British apologists enable the violence in Jenin
JVL Introduction
David Hearst puts the horrifying scenes we have recently witnessed in the Jenin refugee camp into context.
Once again, Israel, indubitably the aggressor, is portrayed by our leading political parties as the victim.
The settlers’ avowed aim in the recent pogroms in the West Bank has been to persuade as many Palestinians as possible to leave.
Under the guise of a non-existent peace process and a non-existent two-state solution that everyone in the Israeli government has declare their hostility to, Western powers allow Israel to act with impunity.
And while this is going on, Parliament debates a bill to outlaw BDS – on which Labour abstains (apart from 11 MPs willing to stand up for principle).
Every party statement in support of “the Jewish state” is in effect a statement in support of a racist ethnocratic regime that is, not to mince words, allowed to get away with murder.
RK
This article was originally published by Middle East Eye on Wed 5 Jul 2023. Read the original here.
As Israel smashes up Jenin, its British apologists are enabling this violence
Every word that Keir Starmer or Lisa Nandy utter in support of the ‘Jewish homeland’ sends a very clear message to Israel that it can carry on doing what it wants
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One should not use the term pogrom so lightly. During this operation maybe 3 or 4 non-combatants were killed – and only 8 or 9 terrorists…
On the other hand Netanyahu’s government actively supports the fanatical settlers in displacing the inhabitants of the West Bank to seize their land. So this is becoming Israeli policy but does not represent the will of the people – the majority of whom will never support this coalition government nor its policies oppressing the population of the occupied zones, yet may be swayed by a show of strength – “defence of the state” has long been a strong political card and the Israeli population does come under Palestinian fire.
So there is certainly a role for selective sanctions to play in persuading the current Israeli government that the world will not stand by while they grab more land.
We do need a way to show our disapproval
Another great article. If only the Israeli government and the UK government would listen.
Until pro-Palestinians make a CONCERTED effort to highlight Israel’s Crimes Against Humanity, (being very much divided and ruled by pro-Zionist forces), things will only get worse for the Palestinians. Palestinian settlements are being made unliveable while illegal Zionist colonies continue in their “irreversible” expansion. Perthaps it is time to throw in the towel and seek financial aid for the Trump peace plan which was to move Palestinians to two “reservations” near the Egyptian border? It could save much misery for Palestinians!
This is very much a general problem.
Every time Labour agrees with the Conservatives, the latter are emboldened to become even worse.
This point was admitted by Prime Minister David Cameron who said once that the Conservatives did not have to worry about nuclear weapons as an issue because the Labour leadership agreed with them on it.
Today, of course, the Labour leadership agrees with them on much more besides.
Great article except for this one sentence:
“I don’t know who is more to blame – Smotrich, Ben-Gvir or Israel’s apologists in Britain.” David left out the one nation more culpable than any other for the present situation – the United States. If some miracle were to occur and the US decided it no longer wished to support its fascist fortress in the Middle East, Israel would come close to collapse because all the US poodles – read the UK and other European countries would soon follow. So the aim should be to break the US’ unquestioning support of Israel.