Ronan L. Tynan

The continuing murder of civilians in Gaza makes it very clear that most of Israel’s political elite, and especially Prime Minister Netanyahu, feel confident they can commit warcrimes against the Palestinians with impunity, because regardless of any criticism they might have to endure they can always count not only on US leaders, but most of the EU’s political elite as well?

Indeed, the apparent contempt Prime Minister Netanyahu shows for the lives of Palestinian civilians, including women and children, when talking about his pounding of Gaza offers no hope for peace in the Middle East, all the more alarming with the region already in flames?  In short, no room for optimism I thought until I saw a remarkable speech by Jewish MP Sir Gerald Kaufman in the House of Commons, in which he bluntly accused Israeli politicians of cynically trading on the Halocaust, and demanded that they not use his grandmother who was murdered by the Nazis as cover for their murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. “My grandmother did not die to povide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza. The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt of gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Halocaust as justification for the murder of Palestinians. The implication is that Jewish lives are precious but the lives of Palestinians do not count.”

Sir Gerald was speaking about the last Israeli invasion of Gaza and brilliantly exposed how Israel’s leaders have virtually inverted our perceptions so that we identify with the oppressor, so much so that even journalists have had their sense of outrage turned on the oppressed instead of exposing the injustices being done to them.

Sir Gerald went on: “On Skynews a few days ago the spokeswoman for the Israeli Army was asked about the killing, as of that time about 800 Palestinians, the total is now 1,000. She replied instantly, 500 of them were militatants. That was the reply of a Nazi. I suppose the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw Ghettoe could have been dismissed as militants?”

Referring to the then Israeli Foreign Minister Livni who said Israel would not negotiate with terrorists, Sir Gerald pointed out that her father was Chief Operations Officer of the Jewish terrorist group which had blown up the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in which 91 people were killed including 4 Jews. “Israel was born out of jewish terrorism,” he asserted. He went on to detail other egregious Israeli terrorist atrocities in case we have any doubt about the validity of his thesis. To understand Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu’s strategy this time in Gaza, Sir Gerald Kaufman’s speech is probably invaluable.