IN THE UK IS DEFAMING ISRAEL BIGOTRY OR PANDERING TO THE RISING MUSLIM ELECTORATE? (BOTH..RSK)
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/5110/defaming_israel_bigotry_or_electoral_strategy
Defaming Israel: Bigotry or electoral strategy?
Former UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has a lot of nerve slamming Israel over civilian deaths. How many civilians died in Britain’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Perhaps it’s bigotry, perhaps it’s pandering to the rising Muslim electorate
This is Jack Straw, UK foreign secretary at the launch of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, speaking in parliament last week:
“For all the vacuous words of the Israeli government and the IDF spokesman, they have no regard for international humanitarian law; they place a completely different and much lower value on Palestinian life compared to Israeli life” and “the actions that they are taking are completely outwith the United Nations Charter and any idea of how a civilised nation ought to behave.”
Are these appallingly defamatory comments a result of being a) an extreme bigot or b) electoral considerations?
Given that he has announced he is standing down as an MP for Blackburn at the next election, I would strongly favour the former (though old habits may die hard in his constituency which has a significant Muslim presence).
He has form, of course.
In 2013, at the Round Table Global Diplomatic Forum at the House of Commons, Israeli politician Einat Wilf, one of the panelists at the forum, quoted Straw as having said that among the main obstacles to peace were the “unlimited” funds available to pro-Israel Jewish organizations in the US – funds “used to control and divert American foreign policy in the region” – and also Germany’s “obsession” with defending Israel.
Wilf stated: “It was appalling to listen to Britain’s former foreign secretary. His remarks reflect prejudice of the worst kind… I thought British diplomats, including former ones, were still capable of a measure of rational thought.”
Meanwhile, current Prime Minister David Cameron has been markedly less critical of Israel than in his earlier days in Downing Street when he referred to Gaza as a prison camp and to the Israeli attack on a Turkish ship attempting to break the life-saving blockade of Gaza as “completely unacceptable”.
However, his condescending reminders to Israel to “exercise restraint” to avoid civilian casualties (perhaps with one eye on marginal constituencies with a high Muslim population), when Israel is no doubt doing more to protect civilians than any British army has ever done in conflicts such as Iraq and Afghanistan, are of course irritating in the extreme.
I will personally urge the Israeli foreign minister to return the favour when Britain is being rocketed by Islamic extremists vowing, in blood-curdling fashion, to kill every last Brit.
I’m sure any such comments will be viewed as helpful.
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