SIR – Well done the Lib Dems for suspending Bradford East MP David Ward for demonising Israel and denouncing it as an “apartheid state”.

“At long last the Zionists are losing the battle,” he said, adding, “how long can the apartheid state of Israel last?”

Apartheid is where one section of the population is denied its civil and democratic rights. There are more than a million Arabs in Israel and everyone over the age of 18 is entitled to a vote.

While Mr Ward directs his venom against Israel, he says nothing about the reluctance of Hamas and Fatah, rulers of Gaza and the Palestinian Authority respectively, to grant Palestinians a vote in elections first due in July 2010, but postponed to May 2012, then delayed again until June 2012. It is now July 2013 and elections due in 2010 still haven’t been held!

When Mr Ward denounces Hamas and Fatah for the contempt they’ve shown towards their own Palestinian electorates, then perhaps we can respect him.

Alan O’Day Scott, Pellon Lane, Halifax