It’s all words but no action from the Labour government over the continuing slaughter and war crimes being conducted in Gaza by the Israeli military.
Daily slaughter: the Nasser Hospital was targeted, and then bombed again when rescue workers and journalists moved in
The latest outrage came over the weekend, when Israeli forces targeted the Nasser Hospital, and then bombed it again when emergency workers moved in to try to rescue the stricken from the rubble.
Official sources say at least 19 people were killed in the deliberate, double-targeting of the hospital, including aid workers conducting a rescue mission and four journalists reporting on the attack.
All Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, did was tweet a few platitudes, saying he was “horrified”.
Britain continues to supply arms to Israel, and British armed forces have been providing support to the Israeli Defence Force.
Michael Rosen, the widely respected poet and human rights activist, responded to Lammy’s crocodile tears: “Sleep easy, Dave. You’ve done your bit. You’ve said you’re horrified.”
Poetry in practice: Michael Rosen’s response to David Lammy’s crocodile tears
Under orders from party enforcers, senior Labour politicians in Croydon appear to be responding in much the same way as Lammy, without doing anything about the on-going horrors commissioned by the Israeli government.
“What is happening in Gaza is appalling on every level; I grieve the indescribably awful loss of life,” Sarah Jones, MP for Croydon West, has said in emails to her constituents appealling to her to do something useful to end the slaughter.
Jones, who has been an MP since 2017, said, “I am devastated by the situation in Gaza, and so many of my constituents have written to me saying the same.” But she doesn’t say that she has resigned her junior ministerial position in Keir Starmer’s government in protest over its lack of action and leadership over the genocide that is taking place against the Palestinian people and being shown nightly on our television screens.
Jones is Minister of State for Industry, so actually holds some clout in respect of those industries which are making weapons of war and exporting them to Israel to profit from the genocide.
We have long ago passed the stage where the prosecution of war crimes has been raised.
“What is taking place is completely inhumane,” Jones says in her email. “Children starving, hospitals destroyed and the drip feeding of aid and mass causalities near aid sites is horrific.” But action? From her or the government of which she is part? Not much.
Air drops of supplies and packages of medical aid from Britain is, even MP Jones is forced to admit, “in no way an adequate substitute for aid”.
Junior minister: MP Sarah Jones offers kind words and no action over Gaza
“The government is calling for the UN to be allowed to deliver aid safely and at scale into Gaza; we need all restrictions on aid to be permanently removed.” Ending the supply of arms to Israel might be one way of making such UN aid supplies safer, but Jones doesn’t mention that.
“Israel’s decision to launch a large-scale military operation in Gaza will only worsen the devastation.
“We need an immediate, permanent ceasefire, which enables the provision of immediate and unimpeded humanitarian assistance – right now, an entirely preventable and horrific famine is unfolding in Gaza.” Over the past 18 months, Starmer’s Labour Party, nationally and locally, has sanctioned MPs and councillors for supporting calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, or even for mentioning the genocide being committed there.
What has Croydon West’s Labour MP done? “I have written to Foreign Secretary David Lammy to share the views of the hundreds of people in Croydon West who have been in touch with me. I continue to demand an immediate ceasefire and for the UN to be able to provide vital humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
Kind words. Dead children. Thousands of dead children.
Sleep easy, Sarah. You’ve done your bit. You’ve said you’re horrified.
Read more: Starmer’s ‘moral compass is broken’ says Labour ex-councillor
Read more: Our four MPs are doing nothing to try to stop carnage in Gaza
Read more: Trades unionists accuse MP Jones of ignoring Gaza letters
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