SIR – It’s not clear where Mr A Michael Murphy found his definition of fascism (Letters, July 7), since he quotes no source, but according to him, even Oswald Mosley’s pre-war British Union of Fascists was not fascist since it did not constitute a “system of government”.

But if he had seen Israeli soldiers strutting around occupied East Jerusalem like stormtroopers, he might have a better idea what fascism looks like.

And if he had experienced the way the West Bank has been divided up into apartheid-style bantustans, criss-crossed by Israelis-only motorways, he might understand why Desmond Tutu described the Israeli regime as worse than South Africa’s.

As a professional writer, I am well aware of the need for a precise vocabulary, and a state which treats non-Jews as second-class citizens does not fulfil the requirements of being called a democracy, and if it murders unarmed civilians on the high seas, then it is they who deserve to be called terrorists.

For the record, I am not anti-Israel, any more than I was anti-American when I marched against the Vietnam war, nor anti-British when I oppose sending soldiers to kill and be killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Karl Dallas, Church Street, Bradford