UK Government is STILL Lying to Protect Israel’s Genocidal Maniacs | VT Foreign Policy
VT Condemns the ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS by USA/Israel
$ 280 BILLION US TAXPAYER DOLLARS INVESTED since 1948 in US/Israeli Ethnic Cleansing and Occupation Operation; $ 150B direct "aid" and $ 130B in "Offense" contractsSource: Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C. and US Department of State.
Spreading propaganda through government ministers and MPs to claim that Israel has superior rights to the Palestinians’ and is therefore entitled to more advantageous treatment is tantamount to misleading Parliament and the public, and is a serious offence.
Andrew Mitchell, UK Minister of State for Development and Africa, issued a statementyesterday on Israel/Gaza which shouldn’t be allowed to escape criticism. Here are extracts.
- “The Government supports Israel’s right to self-defence, in compliance with International Humanitarian Law, against the horrific terror attacks perpetrated by Hamas on 7 October 2023.”
The suggestion that Israel is “in compliance with International Humanitarian Law” is untrue. The UN warns that “Israel cannot claim self-defence against a threat that emanates from the territory it occupies – from a territory that is kept under belligerent occupation”. Check UN Resolutions 37/43 and 3246.
And as China reminded everyone at the ICJ, “armed resistance against occupation is enshrined in international law and is not terrorism”. As a minister, Mr Mitchell should take advice from credible legal sources, not pro-Israel propagandists.
- “We condemn the slaughter, abuse and gender-based violence perpetrated on 7th October 2023, Hamas’ use of civilian areas, their continued failure to release hostages and their ongoing launching of attacks into Israel.”
Violence, war crimes and illegal occupation using military force have been perpetrated by Israel against Palestinian civilians for 75 years. In the 23 years up to October 7 Israel was slaughtering Palestinians at the rate of 8:1 and children at the rate of 16:1. Actual figures: Palestinians killed by Israelis 10,651, Israelis killed by Palestinians 1,330; includes 2,270 Palestinian children murdered versus 145 Israeli children, and 656 Palestinian women to 261 Israeli women (source: Israel’s B’Tselem). Should the Palestinians take that sitting still?
And what about the 5,200 Palestinian hostages (including women and children) held by the Israeli terror regime before October 7 and the thousands more abducted by Israel since then? Why isn’t UKGov pressing for their release too?
- “We are working to end the fighting in Gaza, to stop the further loss of civilian lives and create the conditions for a permanent peace.”
After four and a half months of genocidal slaughter UKGov’s efforts have had no effect and every day means more innocent lives are destroyed.
- “The most effective way to end the fighting in Gaza is to agree an immediate humanitarian pause, which we have consistently called for. This would allow for the safe release of hostages and a significant increase in the aid going to Gaza.”
That’s gone well, then.
- “We have set out the vital elements for a lasting peace, namely:
# the immediate release of all hostages;
# removing Hamas’s capacity to launch attacks against Israel;
# Hamas no longer being in charge of Gaza;
# the formation of a new Palestinian Government for the West Bank and Gaza, accompanied by an international support package; and,
# a political horizon which provides a credible and irreversible pathway towards a two-state solution”.
- “We have set out the vital elements for a lasting peace, namely:
Does that include all hostages on both sides?
Hamas is the legitimate and democratically elected government – Is UK aiming to bring about coercive regime change, and would that be legal? Will the Palestinians be denied their right to self-determination and to choose their own government? Has anyone at Westminster bothered to read Hamas’s 2017 Charter? AND IF THEY HAVE READ IT, DID THEY NOTICE BY ANY CHANCE SECTIONS 16 AND 20? It is reasonably in tune with international law while the Israeli government pursues policies that definitely are not.
Under international law the correct way to deal with the threat posed by Hamas is by requiring Israel to immediately end its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and theft of Palestinian resources. Wouldn’t that be a more sensible approach?
And what is on the “political horizon” UKGov has set out? So far, nobody seems able to describe what the 2-state solution they’ve talked about for decades would look like.
- “We are increasingly concerned about the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and recognise the urgent need to significantly scale up the flow of aid getting in. All parties must take immediate steps to ensure unhindered humanitarian access, ease restrictions on humanitarian supplies and ensure the UN and aid agencies can reach civilians in need throughout Gaza.”
Suspending funds to UNRWA has hardly helped. And why don’t UK and others who are so terribly “concerned” avoid Israel’s road blocks and simply land supplies on Gaza’s beach with naval escort?
- “We remain deeply concerned at the number of civilian casualties to date…. We continue to urge Israel to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming citizens.”
Such deep concern does UKGov credit. But all this urging and beseeching Israel to behave decently and comply with international and humanitarian law and the laws of war has no effect. There’ll be no progress until UKGov backs its “urgings” with concrete action, i.e. pulls the plug on all thing Israeli – trade, co-operation, technical and security collaboration, weapons supplies. Other countries would follow.
- “Ultimately, a two-state solution is the best way to ensure safety and security for both Israelis and Palestinians. Our long-standing position remains that we will recognise a Palestinian State at a time that is most conducive to the peace process.”
The Israeli regime has said repeatedly that it will not accept a Palestinian state. UKGov recognised Israeli statehood quickly enough in 1949 after Zionist gangs had carried out countless atrocities including massacres at the King David Hotel, Deir Yassin, Lydda and elsewhere, trashed 500 Palestinian towns and villages, driven 700,000 civilians out of their national homeland, and made clear Israel’s ambition to dominate the entire Holy Land. And they have relentless pursued Plan Dalet, the Israelis’ bloody blueprint for annexing Palestine by military force, ever since. It was drawn up at the behest of Jewish Agency leader and later first prime minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion and developed by one of the Jewish terror groups, the Haganah.
Further delays to recognising a Palestinian state is statehood (and justice) denied. A large majority (138) of the world’s states have already recognized Palestinian statehood. Why isn’t UKGov among them? Britain promised the Palestinian Arabs independence back in 1915 but instead has engaged in deliberate time-wasting so that Israel can continue its planned annexation and expand its control with impunity.
UN Resolution 3246 calls for all States to recognize the right to self-determination and independence for all peoples subjected to colonial and foreign domination. When did UKGov, a leading member of the UN and supposed to set an example, ever comply with that in relation to Palestine?
- “We remain concerned about the situation in the West Bank– and have taken action in response to extremist settler violence.”
Just four extremists sanctioned. And what terrifying penalties did UKGov hit them with? There are tens of ‘000s of so-called ‘settlers’, many of them armed, implanted in the West Bank by the Israeli government, their sole purpose being to terrorise the Palestinians and drive them out of their homeland. They and the people who put them there are classified as war criminals.
- “It is the aim of the Government to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible and the creation of a permanent peace based on a new political horizon for the region.”
UKGov has been saying that for decades. There will only be peace if it’s based on law and justice. Failure to address that simple formula has brought us all to the present horrific crisis.
As Mr Mitchell surely knows, over 800 serving officials and civil servants in Western governments, including the UK, are warning that their governments’ policies on the Israel-Gaza war could amount to “grave violations of international law” and they risk being complicit in “one of the worst human catastrophes of this century”. They complain that those who understand the region and the dynamics are not listened to and expert advice is being sidelined.
A senior British official says that “ministers dismiss allegations against the Israeli Government seemingly without having received proper and well-evidenced legal advice”.
Stuart Littlewood
24 February 2024
After working on jet fighters in the RAF Stuart became an industrial marketing specialist with manufacturing companies and consultancy firms. He also “indulged himself” as a newspaper columnist. In politics, he served as a Cambridgeshire county councillor and member of the Police Authority. Now retired he campaigns on various issues and contributes to several online news & opinion sites. An Associate of the Royal Photographic Society, he has produced two photo-documentary books – Paperturn-view.com.
Also, check out Stuart’s book Radio Free Palestine, with Foreword by Jeff Halper. It tells the plight of the Palestinians under brutal occupation and explains why the Zionists who control Israel should be brought before the International Criminal Court.
Stuart’s Very Latest Articles: 2023 – Present
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