British Government needs to be tougher on Isreal. Many people have made their mind up about Isreal’s treatment of the Palestinian people and particularly those in Gaza. Is it really any wonder that many of these issues are being raised through the arts and media? People are wondering why this Government are protecting Isreal and the outrageous , brutal and inhumane conduct of the IDF. The IDF are murdering Palestinian people on a daily basis. The IDF are facilitating Jewish Settlers in the West Bank in attacking Palestinian communities and robbing them of land. The IDF continually give false accounts of their treatment of Palestinian communities both in the West Bank and in Gaza. The IDF should not be protected from criticism and nor should Isreal.
How many more atrocities must Isreal commit until the World leaders sit up and take notice?
The British Government aren’t doing enough nor putting enough pressure on Isreal to challenge the conduct of the IDF. So is it any wonder that we have seen outbursts of anti IDF and anti Isreali chants of ‘death death to the IDF’ at Glastonbury by the group Bob Vylan? Not to endorse the kind of speech used but wasn’t the whole thing aimed at a government that seems not to really care? People are beginning to wonder why this government are doing very little to challenge Isreal. Is this because of Trump’s continuing support for Netanyahu ? Is this government more concerned about upsetting Trump than standing up for what is basically the right thing to do? How many more atrocities must Isreal commit before World Leaders sit up and take notice?
It’s not Jew hatred: it’s hating what the Jews are doing
Isreal has destroyed Gaza and the civilian infrastructure of Gaza. Isreal is pursuing a course of total destruction and genocide against the Palestinian people. Isreal’s deployment of the IDF is making it very difficult for anyone to survive in Gaza. Isreal is indescriminately targeting the old and the very young. In fact anyone at all. In the history of warfare the conflict in Gaza is unprecedented in it’s targeting of the civilian population directly in the way that Isreal has done. It has done this with contempt and anger and an extreme lack of compassion.
These events pre date the atrocities of the 7th October 2023 by Hamas which themselves were likely as a result of many years of wrong conduct by Isreal. Isreal can no longer claim to be defending itself by using disproportional acts of aggression against the Palestinian people.
Isreal is keeping foreign journalists out of Gaza in an effort to cover up the atrocities being committed by the IDF. What we are seeing is not Jew hatred: it’s hatred of what the Jews are doing. We have a right to criticise Jews when we see that their actions are extreme and inhumane or unjust without the fear of being called antisemitic.
In fact antisemitism should not offer blanket protection to Jews and make them immune from criticism or examination. Isreal should be held accountable for atrocities that it is committing in Gaza and no amount of decrying antisemitism should make them immune from international condemnation.
The shame is really Isreal’s to own. Decent people need to speak out against Isreal’s actions through the deployment of the IDF. No amount of decrying antisemitism should stop those voices from getting louder and louder until Isreal and the IDF stop doing what they are doing in Gaza. In fact it’s a duty of all good people to call out inappropriate behaviour wherever they see it. I feel that it what the group Bob Vylan intended but they just went about it in the wrong way.