After a brief respite, Jean Calder has written another tirade against Israel (The Argus, July 22).

Lebanon has been largely taken over by Hezbollah which is sworn to destroy Israel. Its militants crossed into Israel, killed Israelis and seized others and then the rockets rained down on Israel.

What would Britain do if rockets fell on Liverpool or Birmingham?

On Friday, July 21, I saw Haifa being bombed. Sirens sounded and, moments later, rockets crashed down indiscriminately. A block of flats was hit and destroyed.

Eighty-seven rockets fell across northern Israel that day. Israelis were injured and killed. The population is in terror. Half the people of Haifa have fled.

Hezbollah has more than 10,000 rockets aimed at Israel and most of Hezbollah's facilities and missile launch sites are cynically located in heavily-populated residential areas which are used as a shield.

Israel has to attack those sites and the routes of missile transportation such as roads and bridges to stop Syria re-supplying rockets.

Any civilian casualties are regrettable but Israeli air strikes on Lebanon are not intended to kill civilians, unlike Hezbollah rockets.

Israel has even dropped leaflets warning civilians to evacuate.

Almost a quarter of Israel's population is spending days and nights in bomb shelters.

Lebanon is not innocent. It failed to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1559 calling for disbanding and disarming of the militias.

Jean Calder quotes casualty figures on both sides but she does not mention how many of the Lebanese "civilians" are actually Hezbollah terrorists.

She calls Israel "an apartheid state, rotten with racism".

Nonsense. The fifth of Israel's population that is Arab has the same rights as all Israeli citizens. Most Arab countries not only bar Israelis from entry, they bar Jews.

She feels "grief and shame for Israel". More nonsense. Her article will only serve to whip up an anti-Israel frenzy among the gullible in Brighton and Hove.

-Gerald Oberman, Hove