THE ‘Heroes of Gaza’ mural has understandably aroused strong feelings.
Whatever one’s views regarding the Israel/Gaza War, there are two main reasons why the mural is not a good idea.
Firstly, the mural does not give context or a true picture since it does not display the original Hamas massacre of defenceless people.
This involved torture, rape and burning alive, including the targeting of medical facilities and murder of staff plus the hundreds of young party-goers.
Nor does it mention the hostages.
Also it promotes Palestinian Arab reporters as if they are normal journalists.
Gaza under Hamas is a dictatorship and in reality there is no independent press.
Even if reporters do not work directly for Hamas, they cannot do anything to upset it.
Secondly, anyone who has seen the many sectarian murals in Northern Ireland will be worried that the troubling situation there is now happening here.
In Belfast there are many political murals on private walls and dwellings.
The Gaza example risks leading to copycats who intend to cause division.
Worcester City Council planning department is almost certainly going to rule that the mural will not need retrospective planning permission if the name of the professional creator is removed so that it is not classified as an advertisement.
Nonetheless, I hope that the mural’s sponsors would see the harm they are causing and, having made their point, remove it and I urge them to do so.
Public murals should unite and not divide.
Francis Lankester
Worcester
Send your letters to letters@worcesternews.co.uk.
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