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Jewish
UK MP: Sharon Staining Judaism With Blood
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| “Sharon ordered his troops to use methods of barbarism against the Palestinians” |
LONDON,
April 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A former Jewish Labor
Member of Parliament in the U.K. ferociously attacked hawkish Israeli
prime minister Ariel Sharon and denounced him as a “war criminal”,
a U.K. daily newspaper reported Wednesday, April 17.
Gerald
Kaufman, who was speaking in a Commons debate on the Middle East
crisis, condemned Israel's incursions into the West Bank, drawing a
resemblance between Sharon’s tactics with actions of “Zionist
terrorists in Palestine in the 1940s,” The Guardian said.
Kaufman
slammed Sharon for ordering his troops to “use methods of barbarism
against the Palestinians.”
“It
is time to remind Sharon that the Star of David belongs to all Jews
and not to his repulsive government. His actions are staining the Star
of David with blood,” he said.
While
he also condemned the Palestinian resistance operations, he said that
it was essential to ask why Palestinians resort to such tactics,
reported the Guardian. “We need to ask how we would feel if we had
been occupied for 35 years by a foreign power which denied us the most
elementary human rights and decent living conditions."
He
said the “suicide bombers” were similar to the “Zionist Irgun
and Stern gangs, which launched a series of terrorist attacks in
Palestine in the run-up to the creation of the state of Israel in
1948.”
"We
need to ask what the Jews did in comparable circumstances," he
said. "In 1946 the Irgun controlled by Menacham Begin blew up the
King David hotel in Jerusalem, slaughtering 91 innocent people. In
1948 the Palestinians denounced what they described as a massacre in
the village of Deir Yassin ... The difference between the Deir Yassin
massacre and what happened in Jenin is that Deir Yassin was the work
of terrorist groups denounced by mainstream Jewish groups. The horrors
in Jenin were carried out by the official Israeli army."
He
warned that a strike against Iraq would not be possible if Sharon
continued his actions. “To do so would unite the whole Muslim world
against the U.S., the coalition against terrorism would disintegrate,
western economies could suffer a shock comparable to the oil shock of
1973."
Other
MPs also voiced Kaufman’s sentiment in the meeting. Ann Clwyd, a
Labor backbencher who has just returned from a visit to the Jenin
refugee camp with the UN, said the E.U. should consider economic
sanctions against Israel. Apologizing for her croaky voice, caused by
dust from Israeli tanks, she said it was not enough for European
countries to "simply bleat condemnation".
She
added that the E.U. should consider a number of actions including
withdrawing European ambassadors from Israel, imposing an arms embargo
as Germany has already done and economic sanctions must be considered
to be put in place.
On
Saturday April 13th, The Guardian quoted official sources saying that
Britain has imposed a de facto arms embargo on Israel for the first
time in 20 years.
The
ban applies to military equipment that could be used in Israel's
continuing operations in the Palestinian territories, reported the
paper.
London's
undeclared policy mirrors that of Germany and France, who had also
quietly suspended sales of certain arms, another source said.
“The
parallel moves by European powers emphasize Israel's growing
estrangement from its allies and make it more dependent than before on
U.S. goodwill,” reported the paper.
In
Britain's case, refusals to approve arms exports are more politically
and diplomatically significant rather than militarily, since Britain
is not a major supplier to Israel's armed forces. Nevertheless,
according to the latest figures, the government last year approved £12.5m
worth of military equipment for export to Israel, said the Guardian.
It
included demolition charges, general purpose machine guns, rifles,
small arms ammunition, components for small caliber artillery
ammunition, and components for air-to-surface missiles, armored
fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, combat aircraft and
helicopters, and tanks. Whitehall officials made it clear these items
would not now be approved for export to Israel.
“Ministers
have demanded an explanation from Israel about its use of British
equipment in actions against Palestinians in the occupied territories.
The Foreign Office disclosed last month that Israeli armed forces had
modified British Centurion tanks, exported between 1958 and 1970, into
armored personnel carriers.
“Speaking
to reporters in London on Thursday, the German defense minister,
Rudolf Scharping, confirmed reports that his country was refusing
export licenses for tank parts and other equipment for Israel. Though
he insisted Germany was not operating a formal arms embargo, Berlin
had delayed shipments at what he called ‘this crucial time’.”
Britain
formally embargoed arms to Israel following its invasion of Lebanon in
1982.
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