Walthamstow MP Watch: Middle East crisis

If you are a UK citizen, what can you do about Israel's current war crimes against its neighbours? Well, it might not seem like much, but I do think it's worth writing to your political representatives in Westminster and Brussels. This is what I wrote to Neil Gerrard, Labour MP for Walthamstow:

Dear Neil Gerrard,

I am writing to ask you if there is anything you can do as a Member of
Parliament to bring pressure to bear to prevent the Israeli Government from
continuing its current round of war crimes in Gaza and the Lebanon.

Once again Israel is murdering civilians in its neighbour
countries. Once again the USA has vetoed a motion critical of Israel at the
United Nations. Just for once our Government must stop tailending the US
neo-conservatives and speak out for humanitarian values.

Both Britain and the European Union must stop supporting Israeli
war crimes. I would be grateful if you could do anything to
help.

Yours sincerely,

Grouchy.

Neil Gerrard is a principled MP, and it doesn't surprise me at all that he made this contribution to a debate in Parliament on the 17th July on the situation:

No one in this House in any way supports kidnapping or the firing of rockets
into Israel, but does my hon. Friend accept that collective punishment is
clearly against international law and has been regularly and routinely used by
Israel over the years? It is being used again now in Lebanon, with the bombing
of infrastructure and targeted assassinations from the air that inevitably cause
civilian casualties, as the Israelis know when they do it. Those are not the
actions of a responsible Government. In comparing the actions of Hezbollah and
Israel, let us remember that Israel is a Government and a state, not an
organisation like Hezbollah. One expects any state that claims to be a democracy
and is a member of the UN to abide by
international law.

This is a sound and valuable contribution to the debate. Compare it to the weasel words of Government minister, Kim Howells, in reply:

We certainly expect Israel to abide by international law and we are
totally opposed to collective punishment. My hon. Friend is right in recalling
the history of relationships between Israel and its neighbours since the second
world war. There is a great difference now. Hezbollah recognises no
international law and targets civilians directly. Hamas's terrorist elements
murder civilians directly. That is the way in which terrorists operate. It is
difficult, as we have found in this country to our great pain, to understand how
such an enemy operates, and it is still more difficult to erect defences against
such attacks. That is not to excuse collective punishment, as my hon. Friend
puts it, but we must also try to understand that there are some very
unscrupulous organisations around that operate across frontiers, owe allegiance
to no one and are prepared to use any murderous techniques they care to invent
to achieve their ends. That is a very difficult enemy with which to
negotiate.

This is disgraceful, disreputable garbage. About eight Lebanese civilians have died for each Israeli civilian killed since Israel launched its war crimes against the Lebanon. Hezbollah only fired rockets into Haifa (which I do not support) after Israel deliberately killed many civilians and attacked vital Lebanese infrastructure. Howells is a cowardly careerist who - for the sake of his career - crawls to Blair, who - for the sake of what exactly? - crawls on his belly to Bush.

To put pressure on the cowards in the British government, go here.