MEPs and Palestine

I still haven't had any reply from Baroness Ludford (Lib Dem) to my letter of June 13th about the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. The Baroness is one of nine London MEPs. However, I see from her newsletter that she has raised the issue of Israeli jets deliberately provoking anxiety through low-level sonic booms over Gaza. She reports thus:

London's Liberal Democrat Euro-MP and peer Baroness Sarah Ludford, a
member of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel, this week asked the government during exchanges in the House of Lords to urge Israel to stop creating sonic booms over the Palestinian territories. Since the withdrawal of Israeli
settlers from Gaza in September 2005, the Israeli air force has reportedly been
using jets to break the sound barrier at low altitude over Gaza, thereby causing
sonic booms.

Sarah Ludford, who afterwards expressed disappointment that her
December 2005 letter to the Israeli ambassador on this topic had remained
unanswered, commented:

"My protest lies in the indiscriminate nature of this practice. I do
strongly support Israel's right to take legitimate action to protect its
security, but the damage caused by the sonic booms appears to be designed to
intimidate, in other words collective punishment which cannot be morally
justified."

"The UN's demand for an end to this practice points out that amongst
children sonic booms can cause anxiety, bedwetting, muscle spasms, temporary
loss of hearing and breathing difficulties. It is wrong for Israel to inflict
this suffering if the military justification present in other Israeli Defence
Force actions is here absent."

It is interesting to note that the Baroness's letter to the Israeli ambassador has been totally ignored. And this despite the fact that she is a member of Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel! It just shows the contempt the Israeli authorities have for any criticism at all, however mild, and whoever it is from. Israel demands the right to `self-defence'. However, this self-defence is the right to commit war crimes against anyone, anywhere as they so choose; and to totally ignore any criticism from any source.

Baroness Ludford needs to take a long hard look at her attitude to Israel. Yes, it is good that she has raised this matter. No, it is not good that she appears to be turning a blind eye to all the other war crimes the Israelis are committing against the Palestinians.

You can write to your MEPs here.