Letter from Larry Shapiro, Calgary, to Humber College President and student paper editor, December 10, 2025 regarding an article by Julia Sequeria

Dear Editor,

Re: ANALYSIS: Birth of an overseas alliance aids in fighting imperial control, Filipino and Palestinian Indigenous peoples have faced colonization and are still experiencing the aftermath today. Julia C. Sequeira, Nov 6, 2025, Humber Etc.

Dec. 10, 2025

Dear Editor,

Julia C. Sequeira appears quite misinformed about Zionism such that  she demonized Israel by describing  it as a calumny. All Zionism is, is the yearning by Jews to live in the land of their ancestors, praying multiple times a day to return to the remnants of their holy temple in Jerusalem This yearning has been going on for over 2000 years following their expulsion from Judea by the Romans. There is no similar yearning in the Koran that doesn't mention Jerusalem even once.

The Early Zionists were very idealistic wanting to create a Jewish state on land the Jews were already living on, to work cooperatively with the Arab population. This desire for peace has ben historically consistent. Israel has made five land for peace offers to the Arabs only to have all five rejected because the Arabs wanted it all.

Prior to the establishment of Israel, there were approximately 70000Jews and the same number of Arabs living in the British Mandate in Palestine. The Jews understood that living in peace with their neighbours was preferable to the alternative, but the alternative was all they got. The calumny Julia C.  Sequeira intends is not Zionism, but the existence of Israel.

As for Sequeira's claim that the Palestinians are the indigenous people of Israel-Palestine, she should know that Jews have been living in what is now Israel for 3500 years , 2240 years before the establishment of Islam, and 3439 yeas before Arabs began calling themselves Palestinians.

It should also be noted that nowhere in history of the Middle East is there any evidence of a Palestinian state, a Palestinian people, kings, heroes, myths, songs or archeological findings.

It is not necessary to create an imaginary history. Palestinians live there now and deserve autonomy, and will get it when they abandon efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state.

Larry Shapiro, 8Calgary, Alberta