SA farmers, despite facing crime, don't play the victim

IN RESPONSE to O Parak's letter (The Mercury, June 4), I have the following to say: According to Parak, I said that Israel cannot be accused of genocide as SA has its own crime.

- 

Well, let me state very clearly — SA not only has the highest crime rate, with three of its cities ranked in the top 5 most dangerous cities in the world (Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria and Johannesburg), it is also plagued by extremely brutal farm killings where unthinkable acts of human aggression and hatred can be found happening often, or at least often enough for our president to take serious note hereof.

Whether we criticise Hamas or simply the Gazans who voted for them, we are often painted as racists or apartheid criminals, whilst the people of Gaza, due to reciting anti-semitic propaganda from a very early age, cannot help themselves from either playing the victim or wanting to be seen as a martyr.