Why is the UK – and the international community – not condemning Israel bitterly for the Gaza Massacre?

Last Updated: May 16, 2018By

The Gaza Massacre is an example of victim-blaming at its worst, because people have died.

Yes, there is an active debate over the intentions behind the tragic events of Monday (May 14) – on both sides.

But does it really matter whether Hamas was stirring people up to bring weapons to the apartheid fence between Gaza and Israel? Do we know that any were brought, apart from slings and stones and other low-tech materials? No, we don’t. The only people firing guns were Israelis.

And this is what we get from the Board of Deputies of British Jews:

“No state could allow its borders to be breached by those who openly wish harm to its civilians. Israel is defending its people from repeated violent attempts at mass invasion.

“The responsibility for the violence lies with Hamas, a terrorist organisation with the explicit stated aim of murdering Israeli civilians and the ultimate destruction of the State of Israel.

“Hamas is cynical in the use of its population – including children – to join known terrorists in violent attempts to break through the border and kill Israeli citizens.”

Victim-blaming.

Palestinians say their land has been stolen by Israel and this is true. I refer not to the land that was given to the State of Israel by treaty in 1948, but the land that has been taken by increasingly-aggressive Israeli force in the 70 years since. They were protesting against these thefts and demanding the right to have what is theirs returned to them.

Whatever Hamas said, no violence was carried out against Israeli citizens. In fact, where Palestinians and Israelis live in close proximity, they seem to get on perfectly well. The claim that the organisation desires the destruction of Israel is a wild accusation; everyone involved is reconciled to the fact that this would not solve the issues at hand.

And Hamas did not kill children – the IDF killed them.

The statement by the Board of Deputies has provoked fury – from British Jews, and others:

Here’s a statement from the UK government:

Pathetic. Here’s Tom London again:

Thank goodness Jeremy Corbyn is Labour leader, and has more to say.

Mr Corbyn said in a statement that action was needed “to hold those responsible to account”.

“This slaughter follows weeks of killings of Palestinian civilians demonstrating for their right to return, most of whom are refugees or the families of refugees,” the Labour leader said.

“Coming on the day President Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, it underlines the threat to peace posed by the continuing and intolerable injustices faced by the Palestinian people.

“The response from many western governments to this flagrant illegality, including our own – which bears a particular responsibility for a peaceful and just resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict – has been wholly inadequate.

“They should take a lead from Israeli peace and justice campaigners: to demand an end to the multiple abuses of human and political rights Palestinians face on a daily basis, the 11-year siege of Gaza, the continuing 50-year occupation of Palestinian territory and the ongoing expansion of illegal settlements.

Mr Corbyn added: “We cannot turn a blind eye to such wanton disregard for international law. That is why Labour is committed to reviewing UK arms sales to Israel while these violations continue.

“The international community must at last put its collective authority and weight behind achieving a lasting settlement that delivers peace, justice and security for both Israelis and Palestinians, who have waited so long to achieve their rights.”

That’s more like it.

Of course, we know why the Conservative government has so little to say against Israel. It’s all about money:

The full list of weapons sold by the UK government to Israel is available here.

Fortunately, the UN and at least one other country have made more muscular statements. Here’s UN human rights spokesman Rupert Colville:

And South Africa – a country that knows all about apartheid – withdrew its ambassador from Israel.

Let us not forget that Israeli citizens are also furious at the actions of their government. The Netanyahu regime cannot claim to have been acting for all its people because it wasn’t.


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No Comments

  1. NMac May 16, 2018 at 11:24 am - Reply

    The people who were “invading” Israel, are people and their descendants who were expelled from their own country in 1948 to make way for Western religious colonisers.

  2. Hachimi Taibi May 16, 2018 at 11:32 am - Reply

    Hi Mike, Israel was given land by a colonial power. Land that was not theirs to give. Not only that, the prevailing narrative is that Israel settled in land by virtue of a treaty. This is not born by historical fact. Israelis killed and massacred Palestinians to take over their land in 1948. Those dispossessed people are now inmates in Gaza, which nothing than an open air prison. Please see link attached for the genocide Israel committed to grab land from unarmed villagers.

    http://mondoweiss.net/2018/05/palestinian-refugee-terrorist/?utm_source=Mondoweiss+List&utm_campaign=0eca18a5d4-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b86bace129-0eca18a5d4-398577201&mc_cid=0eca18a5d4&mc_eid=4a3331088c

    PS: My name is Hachimi Taibi. I am an Algerian national, andI am currently based in Vietnam where I teach English. I like reading your comments/posts on British politics. Keep up the good work.

  3. joanna May 16, 2018 at 11:51 am - Reply

    If you are talking about the tories, that is so easy. They don’t even care about people in their own country, they are Self-serving, Greedy and unbelievable arrogant!!!!

  4. joanna May 16, 2018 at 12:02 pm - Reply

    The BoD of british Jews Should be disbanded, they know what happened in WW2, but they are still defending atrocities, espcially claiming to in the name of British Jews who totally understand.

    This goes beyond accepting opinions, these opinions are hateful therefore tainting every jew as hateful, They Are Not!!

    I have no religion myself mainly because of the overdone piety and the underlying hatred!!!

  5. Pat Sheehan May 16, 2018 at 10:14 pm - Reply

    I think that it is good to see the ‘true face’, the ‘true colors’ of our ‘conservative-government’ flaunting their unethical foreign policy wherever it will make most money for business. We already know that they are more than happy to ‘dispose’ of their own at home: the sick and disabled and jobless citizens, whether it be by slow starvation, the deprivation and degradation of homelessness, or even the shadowy, enforced, illegal deportation of its own people, to make up the numbers required to satisfy performance standards! And will even pay bonuses to see that this is all achieved quietly and without fuss!

    • joanna May 17, 2018 at 11:30 am - Reply

      They have shown their true colours from day One, we have had Twoo General elections and a referendum go their way!! David Cameron let ot be known that he would vote remain because he knew some people wouldn’t do the same out of spite!! That is my own opinion.

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