The lie that covers racism, apartheid and war crimes

Starmer pontificates:

The cause of a Palestinian state is just and, alongside a safe and secure Israel, one that is recognised by this government [1]

Currently Israel is killing one child a day, approximately, in the West Bank. [2] This is part of a campaign to drive Palestinians off their land – it involves stealing sheep, buring olive groves, arson attacks, blocking children from going to school, and shooting people. (All widely reported by reputable media, UN bodies and NGOs).

Yesterday, extremist Israeli settlers rampaged through a Palestinian area of Jerusalem. [3] This is an annual event in which Palestinians are attacked and abused. The Guardian reports 19 year old Ariel Amichai as saying, “I’ve come to show all the world that this is our city. This is the Holy Land. God gave us this country and this city…. That they [Palestinians] must leave. This is our country. And they can’t just be here and try to stab us or kill us.”. (Possibly Ariel does not connect his actions to drive these people away with their ‘trying to stab us or kill us’). You might imagine that Ariel and these settlers are some far-right fringe group. But, it seems, that the march is organised by the state:

Marchers were bused in from around Israel and from settlements in the occupied West Bank in a vast operation funded by the Jerusalem municipality and government ministries. The finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, also took part in Thursday’s march. [3]

On the same day, another government Minister, Ben-Gvir, was prancing about in one of Islam’s Holiest Sites – the Temple Mount. Jordan, which has custody of the site, described this as ,”blatant violation of international law, an unacceptable provocation, and a flagrant breach of the historical and legal status quo”.

Going back to London, Starmer, after reaffirming support for the two state solution, continues to complain about alleged anti-semiticism on pro Palestinian marches in England. Ok,; there may be. It is deplorable.

But – let’s compare the two. A march in East Jerusalem organised by the Israeli state whose express purpose is to terrorise Palestinians and drive them out of their homes. (Al-Jazeera reports that slogans include: “may your village burn” and “death to Arabs” [4]). The Pro Palestinian march in London is organised by campaign groups and is nowhere near as violent as this. Not on the same level.

Meanwhile Starmer still supports the ‘two-state solution’ – just as one of the proposed two states pays for people to terrorise members of the other community, and, for that matter, openly declares that it will never happen. “We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state. This place belongs to us,”. (Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu, speaking at the site of an illegal setttlement). [5]

The UK continues not only to trade with Israel, (including the illegal settlements), but to provide military support. When Starmer claims to support the idea of a two-state solution, while the government of Israel openly repudiates it in word and deed, he is maintaining a fiction, not a harmless fiction, but a cover, a fiction which allows the ethnic cleansing of the apatheid state to continue.

Notes

The lie that covers racism, apartheid and war crimes

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