Andy, if you want to be fair and balanced, prove it! |
Your statement on Gaza asks British Jews to accept a familiar bargain: first, a solemn paragraph about antisemitism; then, a policy program aimed almost entirely at Israel.
You begin with Gaza’s suffering, and no serious person should dismiss Palestinian suffering. Civilians in Gaza have endured devastation, displacement and grief like in any other war and conflict. Children have died. Aid has been insufficient. These facts are not made less true because Hamas is a terrorist organization. But fairness is not measured by how emotively one speaks about Palestinian pain. It is measured by whether one tells the whole truth.
And the whole truth begins on October 7.
Hamas murdered about 1,200 people and dragged roughly 250 hostages into Gaza. It turned homes, kibbutzim, a music festival and bedrooms into killing fields. It did so not as an accident of war, but as an act of ideology. You condemn that massacre, and you condemn antisemitism in Britain. Good. Those words are necessary. But in your statement they function as moral punctuation, not policy.
Every practical demand you make is directed at Israel: further sanctions on settlers and on “those involved in the violence in Gaza”, settlement trade bans, arms restrictions, pressure on the Israeli government. Hamas is condemned, then effectively disappears. Iran is absent. Hezbollah is absent. The hostages appear only in the shadow of your rhetoric, not at the centre of your political program.
That is not balance. It is Labour’s old habit in just a new voice.
You say Labour did not “get it right” at the start of the war. You apologize. But what exactly are you apologizing for? For not calling for a ceasefire quickly enough, regardless of whether Hamas remained armed? For not recognizing a Palestinian state sooner, even while hostages were still in Gaza? For not placing more pressure on Israel before demanding the demilitarization of the people who started the war?
A ceasefire is not moral because the word sounds peaceful. A ceasefire that leaves Hamas armed, entrenched and rewarded is not peace. It is an interval before the next massacre.
You count the UK’s recognition of a Palestinian state among the “important steps” you say the Government has taken. But........