Babe from Bethlehem

THE EDITOR, Madam:

The BBC story in early June read “Babe from Bethlehem”, and wondered if I had gone to sleep for the past six months to be awaked like Rip Van Winkle. 

The headline referred to the story of Jesus being born in cattle shed to teenaged Mary – who miraculously was a virgin – and Joseph her older husband. Whether you consider the nativity story as the Gospel Truth or merely another Hebraic myth and fable, the homeless couple were reportedly from Judea, known as Palestine’s Occupied West Bank today. That’s why the headline was on the BBC, in relation to the death of a baby called Sam who was in a car driven by his father, a lecturer at Bethlehem University. An Israeli soldier shot at the car as it approached a check point, killing seven-month old Sam, and injuring his mom and dad.  Sam’s parents and multiple witnesses claimed that the car slowed to a stop, posing no danger, while Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman declared they perceived a threat, but acknowledged that the car’s occupants were “uninvolved citizens”. 

Another tragic story from the Occupied West Bank where at least 1100 Palestinians, including 240 children, have been killed by IDF and Israeli settlers in military raids, airstrikes and shooting, since October 7, 2023, when the Gaza War was launched.  It followed an attack on Israel by Hamas rebels, and resulted in about 74,000 dead Palestinians, 83 per cent of whom were non-combatants. The majority being women and children, along with close to 300 journalists, and almost 600 humanitarian aid workers. 

A ceasefire was eventually brokered in October 2025, since then at least 1,000 more Gazans have been killed by the IDF. All these numbers have been verified by authorities in Israel, which lost over 470 IDF members, and about 2,000 citizens including the initial 1200 horrendously slaughtered on October 7, 2023. Israel is involved in ongoing military action in Syria, Lebanon and Iran, and if readers wish to detect an anti-Semitic tone in my summation they would be wrong. I have no animus towards worshippers of Judaism, nor any other religion. At the same time, I have minimal respect for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s belligerent Zionist government where news from Palestine was pushed onto the back burner, to be rekindled by the horrific death of Sam, the babe from Bethlehem.

BERNIE SMITH

Parksville, BC

Canada