Why Israeli PM is wrong about UK. We just want Gaza's children to be fed
Israeli Prime Minister’s reaction to criticism from UK, France and Canada was simply nonsense
When the invitation arrived, my first thought surprised and frightened me, more than a little. “Would I be safe if I accepted the invitation to the event at the Israeli Embassy.”
It is not something that has ever crossed my mind about any of the events I have been invited to as an MP in the eight years since I was elected. But it was there, and very real.
I felt the same anxiety a few days ago when I heard of the murder of Israeli Embassy staff in Washington DC. Is anyone now safe? It is not that this outrage was any worse or any more deplorable than what we are seeing in Gaza, or the Israeli people experienced on October 7.
Retribution upon restribution
It has long passed the point where sufficient adjectives are available to encapsulate the horror. But this latest murder somehow felt like a harbinger of even worse to come, that the conflict is now way beyond the control or even influence of the international community.
And in the Middle East, it seems that retribution upon retribution is being sought with ever worsening tactics. Food is now a weapon of war. Humanitarian aid is being used as some sort of means of controlling people who have been left with nothing else but to fight for life.
For 12 weeks, Israel blocked aid to Gaza and while our government, and indeed all political parties, recognise that country’s right to defend itself against Hamas, the situation has now gone far beyond that.
Last week the UK Government, together with France and Canada, warned that they were not prepared to “stand by while the Netanyahu government pursues these egregious actions”. And that if the renewed military action and further expansion in the West Bank did not stop, they would “not hesitate to take further action including targeted sanctions”.
No place for Hamas
There will be those who will say that it is too little, too late and that too many people have died, both Israelis and Palestinians. I know that I have felt that the pursuit of peace and the two-state solution which so many of us crave has been increasingly hopeless.
And my frustrations that the Israeli government is not prepared to listen even to its own citizens who want an end to this war reached new heights with Netanyahu’s reaction to that joint UK, French and Canadian statement. They had, he claimed, “effectively said that they want Hamas to remain in power”.
That is so far from the truth as to be nonsense. Every political party in this country, my own Liberal Democrats included, have made it abundantly clear that there can be no place for Hamas in the future of Gaza.
We do want peace, for both the Palestinians and Israel. We also want an end to both the resultant Islamophobia and antisemitism which has reached previously unknown levels in this country.
Perhaps more than anything else, I want to see the children of Gaza fed and the families of the hostages enjoy shabbat with their loved ones again.
Christine Jardine is the Scottish Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.