Hypocrisy can't stop condemnation of Israeli offensive

Israeli supporters and officials have condemned numerous statements against the slaughter in Gaza as hypocrisy on the part of British politicians.

Drawing comparisons to Britain and America's invasion of Iraq in 2003 several senior Israeli politicians have called on current and former MP's to retract their comments opposing the blood shed.

Earlier this week former deputy Prime Minister John Prescott brought Israeli anger after accusing the country of war crimes in its ongoing bombardment of the beleaguered region.

Writing in the Mirror Mr Prescott said: "Imagine a country claiming the lives of nearly three times as many as were lost in the MH17 plane tragedy in less than three weeks.

A nation which blasted a hospital, shelled and killed children from a gunboat as they played football on the beach and was responsible for 1,000 deaths, at least 165 of them children, in just two weeks.

Surely it would be branded a pariah state, condemned by the United Nations, the US and the UK. The calls for regime change would be deafening."

Mr Prescott continues by acknowledging the part which the Palestinian authority Hamas has played in the conflict with its rocket attacks on Israeli territory before saying: 

"But who is to say some of the other 20 per cent weren’t innocent too? Israel brands them terrorists but it is acting as judge, jury and executioner in the concentration camp that is Gaza."

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has been among those to call on Israel to stop its attacks, which have hit UN buildings where people were sheltering, amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

 "It is amounting now to a disproportionate form of collective punishment. It is leading to a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which is just unacceptable," he said.

"I really would now call on the Israeli government to stop. They have proved their point. Israel of course retains the right to react. But you cannot see the humanitarian suffering in Gaza now and the very great number of deaths in Gaza without concluding that there is not much more going to be served in Israel's own interests … to see this festering humanitarian crisis get worse. It incubates the next generation of violent extremists who want to do harm to Israel."

Despite the majority of casualties in the conflict being innocent civilians the Israeli government has refused to back down, claiming that Operation Protective Edge is a responsible and proportionate defence of is people, going as far as to say that they "have a policy - we don't target civilians".

The figures tell a different story though. More than 1360 Palestinians, mostly civilian, have been killed since the attacks started on the 8th of July compared to 58 Israeli's, two of whom were civilian. Earlier this week Israeli fire hit a United Nations school, not the first UN building to be attacked, something which Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said they would investigate and possibly "apologise" if they felt it was needed.

On Wednesday the IDF also breached a further ceasefire, claiming that truces only were in place where Israeli forces were not operating, by targeting a market where women and children were trying to gather supplies while they believed they may be safe.

Israel's argument that Britain is being hypocritical in its coverage of the abuse seems to warrant further attention, however. For the claim to be proven then it must by rights acknowledge that it has no legal justification for the level of armed intervention which it is currently engaged in, as many experts have stated was the case with former Prime Minister Tony Blair's engagement in Iraq. Even if this were the case though hypocrisy is no reason not to condemn an act of slaughter. In 1290 the English King Edward I instigated the expulsion of all Jews, leading to the "great Jewish expulsions" of the Middle Ages. Hypocrisy would not allow us, or many other countries, to have done all they could to intervene in a holocaust happening again. Hypocrisy cannot stop us from taking the right action now and calling for the senseless killings of innocent Palestinians to end and end now. 

Blair fiddles as Gaza burns

UNITED Nations Peace Envoy Tony Blair has come under fire for hosting a lavish birthday party for his wife while Israeli forces continue their offensive in Gaza.

At the time that Mr Blair was partying with 150 guests ceasefire agreements were stalling in Gaza and the death toll continuing to rise. Already more than 1000 Palestinians have died in the fighting, the majority of whom are civilians. Two Israeli civilians and more than 40 soldiers have also died as the embattled region burns.

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: “Tony has been in touch on the crisis and will return to the region this week.

"He cares passionately about what is happening and will do anything he can to help.”

For all his concerns, however, the former Prime Minister was snapped partying with celebs and politicians, including current Labour Leader Ed Milliband, while UN officials struggled to hammer out a solution to the conflict.

In a statement UN leaders called for a ceasefire to be held during the Islamic festival of Eid and condemned the loss of civilian life.

 “The Security Council expresses grave concern regarding the deterioration in the situation as a result of the crisis related to Gaza and the loss of civilian lives and casualties.

“The Security Council calls for full respect of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilian population, and reiterates the need to take appropriate steps to ensure the safety and well-being of civilians and their protection.

“The Security Council expresses strong support for the call by international partners and the Secretary-General of the United Nations for an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire, allowing for the delivery of urgently needed assistance, and they urged all parties to accept and fully implement the humanitarian ceasefire into the Eid period and beyond."

As a peace envoy Mr Blair is not required in Security Council meetings, however his absence from the region is likely to be seen by some observers as a sign that the UN is not taking the situation as seriously as many would like.

"Israel’s continuing bombardment of civilian homes in several areas of the Gaza Strip, as well as the shelling of a hospital, add to the list of possible war crimes that demand an urgent independent international investigation, said Amnesty International spokesman said last week.

In his role in the region Mr Blair would have seemed a likely candidate to take part in such an investigation.

Mr Blair's position as Peace Envoy has been a contentious issue since his appointment. Several observers in the region have expressed views that following his actions in Iraq he is the wrong person to promote stability on the region. This was further exasperated earlier this month after he called for more intervention in Syria, and for potential action against ISIS forces in Iraq.

For now, however, Mr Blair seems more interested in celebrating his wife's 60th birthday, which is actually in September, than fulfilling such an important role at this critical time. 

Social media proves dangerous place for MP's

SOCIAL media has once again proved to be a risky medium for politicians as they fail to grasp the need to watch what they say.

The latest member of parliament to fall foul of the networks has been Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford West David Ward who demonstrated his poor judgement with tweets relating to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Mr Ward has garnered condemnation for tweeting: ""The big question is - if I lived in #Gaza would I fire a rocket? - probably yes," and, "Ich bin ein #palestinian - the West must make up its mind - which side is it on?"

A spokesman for the Labour Party said: "At a time when all sides should be working for a ceasefire and a peaceful settlement, it defies belief that a Liberal Democrat MP should tweet something so vile and irresponsible."

Meanwhile in a carefully worded statement a Liberal Democrat spokesman distanced the party from Mr Ward's statement. 

"David has previously overstepped the mark with repugnant language.

"We fully support his right to campaign on behalf of the Palestinian people, but these views are clearly vile, crass and offensive."

Israel's actions in Gaza has drawn international attention as the civilian death toll mounts from air strikes and the ground offensive. More than 630, mostly civilian, Palestinians have died in the fighting as Isarel's attacks become ever more disproportionate and bloody, compared to approximately 20 Israeli soldiers and two civilian casualties.

Mr Ward is not the first MP to come under fire for expressing ill thought through views on social media networks. Last month Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant found himself at the centre of a twitter storm after posting that if he had been debating female journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown he might end up "punching her in the throat".

In both cases Tory Chairman Grant Shapps has been quick to ensure that the Conservative party is not implicated in the personal views expressed. Speaking after Mr Ward's tweet Mr Shapps was reported as saying: "No MP should tweet what's essentially incitement to violence. Completely irresponsible."

In response to Mr Fabricant's comment he said: "I don’t think it was appropriate. I think it is absolutely right that he apologised. Sometimes on Twitter people shoot from the hip and then repent as appropriate. I don’t think what he said was appropriate and it is not the first time I have thought that.

“That is why I let him go earlier in the year from the post of vice-chancellor.”

For officials of all parties social media is providing a headache which they had never planned for. Whereas once statements could be carefully crafted and thought through the immediate access to thousands of people proves just too much of a draw for some politicians. While it may provide the electorate with a better idea of who they are voting for it has a tendency to cloud issues and divert attention from the official line. For many MP's social media is a strange and unforgiving place, if they are to survive they need to fall back on their old standards and treat every post as an on the record sound bite, otherwise their careers make become little more than a hashtag of history.