A typical anti-Israel letter in the Sunday Times

The following letter, from D MacGregor, of Ramsgate, Kent, was the star letter in the Sunday Times on 31 July 2005 (the emphasis is mine):

The recent bombings in London and the support shown for this carnage by a group of disgruntled Muslims brought to mind a slogan I used to see everywhere, from car bumpers to T-shirts, when I lived in Australia many years ago: "Australia — love it or leave it!". And before readers write in to accuse me of racism, I'd like to make it perfectly clear that I am not a racist. I spent many years travelling the world and I have friends of all colours, creeds and nationalities. I can fully empathise with the Palestinians, who are suffering appalling treatment at the hands of the (American-backed) Israelis; I can sympathise with anyone who detests the "Yankification" of this world — but please let them not take out their revenge on the innocent British public — most of whom have no time for George W Bush, or his gung-ho predecessors or our spineless leaders.

The letter started off quite promisingly didn't it? Can you see the significance of the anti-Israel comment in here, because I can't. Apparently his empathy with the Palestinians means he can't be a racist. Well that's really comforting for all of us. Note that he stresses the bombers have no right to murder the innocent British public (in contrast presumably to the 'guilty' Israelis and Yanks and maybe even the guilty Jews and others in Britain who support the Israelis and Yanks). So maybe he is saying that it's OK to murder Israelis (and possibly even Yanks) but the bombers had better leave London alone? Whichever way you look at it, it's a pretty ridiculous letter, so why did the Sunday Times print it as their star letter? Either the Sunday Times is really desperate for well-written letters (curious as they get thousands per week, many written be well-educated people) or the editorial staff are themselves so consumed by casual hatred of Israel and Bush that they thought the letter made perfect sense.