• MARTIN Plaut is quite right to say that Kashmiris are suffering every bit as much as Palestinians, (Why is Momentum seeing the world through the lens of just one conflict?, September 13).

On the same day that Israel Defence Force and snipers shot dead unarmed protesters on the Gaza border, similar numbers were killed in Kashmir by the Indian armed forces. Only one mainstream TV channel – Al Jazeera – reported on, and also pictured, the houses set on fire and villages destroyed which rivalled pictures we have seen from Myanmar.

There are three reasons why Momentum and other social justice campaigns in the UK focus on Israel-Palestine. The first is that, sadly, Kashmir is never treated as news by the BBC or British papers, even though we have Kashmiri exiles and migrants living here (and in this very borough, including members of our local Labour Party). It is estimated that up 70 per cent of Pakistani-heritage British citizens are from part of Kashmir, their voices seldom heard.

The second reason is more hopeful: Israel-Palestine can be resolved. It has inspired an international non-violent campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions. Many Jewish people support this BDS campaign, as many white South Africans supported the boycott of South Africa which led to a peaceful end to colonial apartheid.

The third reason, of course, is that there is a Jewish diaspora. Only one side is being heard at present in our mass media. But there are thousands here who support Jews for Justice of Palestinians and Jewish Voice for Labour, and tens of thousands who totally ignore and reject the claims of the Board of Deputies (representing a single group of synagogues), or the entirely self-appointed Jewish Leadership Council, to speak for them.

It is tragic that “My country right or wrong” is being presented as the only valid Jewish attitude to Israel. In this borough excellent local Palestinian solidarity groups have been hounded with accusations of anti-Semitism, and community venues threatened with reprisals such as losing their council funding.

This campaign of silencing and slander predates Camden’s misguided adoption of the questionable International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism, but has gained more power since then. The realities of Palestinians themselves are being hidden.

So Martin, yes, let’s all work for an ethical foreign policy when Labour comes to power. We’ve made a start with motions about helping the Rohingya as well as the Palestinians, and with calls for an arms boycott of Saudi Arabia as well as Israel. But let’s look further to South Sudan and to the millions who have died and are still facing death in Eastern Congo. And let’s start where we can win, in Israel-Palestine.

AMANDA SEBESTYEN
Bayham Street, NW1