UK Jewish lawmaker: Israeli forces acting like Nazis

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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People of good conscious must condemn Israeli slaughter of helpless Palestinians in Gaza…good to see Jews standing up for what is right.

UK Jewish lawmaker: Israeli forces acting like Nazis - CNN.com

LONDON, England (CNN) – Israeli military action in Gaza is comparable to that of German soldiers during the Holocaust, a Jewish UK lawmaker whose family suffered at the hands of the Nazis has claimed.

A protester confronts police in London last weekend at a demonstration against Israeli action in Gaza.

Gerald Kaufman, a member of the UK’s ruling Labour Party, also called for an arms embargo on Israel, currently fighting militant Palestinian group Hamas, during the debate in the British parliament Thursday.

“My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszow. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed,” said Kaufman, who added that he had friends and family in Israel and had been there “more times than I can count.”

“My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza.”

Kaufman, a senior Labour politician who was raised as an Orthodox Jew, has often opposed Israeli policy throughout his career.

Israel has said it initiated the operation into Gaza – which is controlled by Hamas – to stop rocket fire on its southern cities and towns. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have died in the operation in Gaza and from rocket strikes on southern Israel, according to the Israeli military.

More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed, including many civilians, Palestinian medics said.

During Thursday’s debate, Kaufman also said that Israel needed to seek real peace and not peace by conquest, which would be impossible.

He also accused the Israeli government of “ruthlessly and cynically exploiting the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians.”

But Kaufman added that while it is necessary to talk to Hamas, which had been chosen by an electorate, it nevertheless is a “deeply nasty organization.”

Bill Rammell, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, said the UK government backed an EU presidency statement calling Israeli action disproportionate. But he also criticized Hamas rocket attacks on Israel during the cease-fire between June and December 2008, adding that the militant group’s “whole ethos is one of violence” and that it had “made a brutal choice to step up attacks against innocent civilians.”

“Nothing, not the restrictions on Gaza nor its frustration with the peace process, justifies what Hamas has done and continues to do,” Rammell said. “In December, I was in Ashkelon near the Gaza border, and I heard the sirens. The fear was palpable: This is daily psychological and actual warfare.”

Rammell added that Hamas has “committed acts of terrorism, it is committed to the obliteration of the state of Israel, and its statement last week that it was legitimate to kill Jewish children anywhere in the world was utterly chilling and beyond any kind of civilised, humanitarian norm.”

The debate came on the day that Saeed Siam, Hamas’ third-ranking leader in the territory, was killed by an Israeli airstrike, the Islamic militant group reported.

The United Nations’ main relief compound in the territory was also hit and set on fire, which U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon blamed on Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed sorrow over the incident but said Israeli forces were responding to militant fire near the complex.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown described the shelling of the compound as “indefensible,” media agencies reported.

Speaking to Ban during a call, Brown said the UK would increase its calls for a cease-fire and also deliver aid to Gaza once a cease-fire took hold.

Britain has witnessed several demonstrations since the conflict in Gaza began late last month.

Last Saturday, up to 20,000 people gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in London, Metropolitan Police said.

Later, parts of the crowd began pelting officers with sticks, rocks and pieces of metal barriers, police said. A similar protest Sunday was peaceful.

Rallies were also held in London and Manchester last weekend in support of Israeli action against Hamas

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Re: UK Jewish lawmaker: Israeli forces acting like Nazis

Good news ! True Jews will never approve the criminal policy of Israel ... People who pretend to follow the Laws of Moses must denounce these attrocities !

[QUOTE]

Israeli military action in Gaza is comparable to that of German soldiers during the Holocaust, a Jewish UK lawmaker whose family suffered at the hands of the Nazis has claimed.
[/QUOTE]

Very courageous ... Generally, when you make this comparison, you are accused to be anti-semitic or to "offend the memory of the victims of Hitler" ...

Timepass - October 2012
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Anti Semmite…:ban:

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That is true, "Shamraz Khan". True Jews are actually against this terrorist state of Zionists.

What do you think should be the punishment of the leaders who commit these terrorist acts against innocent people?

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Re: UK Jewish lawmaker: Israeli forces acting like Nazis

So i am assuming that slaughtering of Palestine will be stopped by Jews themselves.
How pity !

Timepass - November 2012
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I have no doubt that Israel has committed war crime in Gaza, but I doubt if there is going to be any punishment. I do however expect individual & human rights organizations suing Israeli govt and officials involved in this war.

Israel expects army officers to be prosecuted for war crimes

Israel expects army officers to be prosecuted for war crimes
Irish Sun
Friday 16th January, 2009

The Israeli government is preparing defenses for a “wave of international lawsuits” expected over its offensive in Gaza.

The government believes Israeli army officers and soldiers will be sued over actions in the 21-day old offensive which began on December 27.

A number of human rights organizations, and the International Red Cross, have already indicated they are looking at breaches of international law. The whole question of the legality of the Gaza War is also being examined.

Amnesty International has written to the United Nations Security Council calling for the establishment of full accountability for crimes committed in the Gaza conflict and for deployment of human rights monitors.

In the letter, Amnesty says it wants the Security Council to “take firm action to ensure full accountability for war crimes and other serious abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law.”

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered the Israeli army to establish a task force comprising operational, intelligence, and legal experts, to assemble information, documentation, and footage of military operations during the offensive, which will assist in the defence of officers against legal actions expected to be filed by a number of international bodies.

The task forced named “Incrimination Team” is presently examining all footage taken by the Israeli army of the Gaza operation since it began.

Israeli Attorney General Menahem Mazuz warned the government earlier this week a “wave of international lawsuits” was expected.

“We need to be prepared for the potential lawsuits that will be filed against senior officers,” a defense official told The Jerusalem Post. “The team will review the footage and intelligence information and formulate arguments that can be used to defend against claims that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza.” The footage collected by the team was filmed by regular combat soldiers who received special training on how to film and document military operations under combat conditions.

What will hamper legal actions brought on by international groups is that virtually the only footage and documentation of the violence in Gaza will be that produced by the Israeli army. Israel has banned the entry of journalists, TV camera crews, and photographers from Gaza, a decision that preceded the commencement of the offensive. The Israel High Court has ruled the ban illegal and ordered the government and army to allow news media to enter the Strip. The court order has not been complied with.

Israel is accused of bombing schools, including some run by the United Nations, mosques, government buildings, and homes. Hundreds of civilians, including women and children have been killed by bombs, artillery shelling and tank fire. Israel has also staged a blockade of the Strip for eighteen months which has restricted the provision of food, medical supplies, water, oil, and other commodities. Much of the area has been without electricity for several months. The blockade has plunged Gaza into a depression.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child said in a statement that the pledges 193 states have made to protect the lives and development of children “have been blatantly violated during this crisis.”

Hundreds of youngsters have been killed or wounded and the continuous fighting is harming the health, education and family lives of those living through the conflict.

“The emotional and psychological effects of these events on an entire generation of children will be severe,” the committee stressed.

It emphasised that all signatories of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, including Israel, are obliged to condemn the targeting of children and direct attacks on places they use such as schools and hospitals.

“This affirmation is undermined by the fact that many children have lost their lives as a result of manifest disrespect for their protection and that of their schools, including some administered by the UN itself.”

A major incident under investigation is the bombing of a UN-run school which killed 43 people, most of them children who had been directed to the school for shelter. The Israeli army claimed it was responding to rocket fire coming from within the school grounds. The army produced footage to validate its claims after the UN denied there were militants operating within the school compound. The Israeli army, when challenged, admitted the footage was fifteen months old and in that case the school had been evacuated before being taken over by militants.

In another serious case the Israeli army is accused of rounding up around 400 people and designating a school for them to take shelter. They were warned not to move from the building. A day later the building was bombed by Isreali warplanes and scores were killed or wounded.

There is similar serious concern over the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Hamas into civilian areas in southern Israel. Three civilians have been killed by the attacks since December 27.

Amnesty International has urged all parties to the conflict, as well as the international community, to ensure a “thorough, independent and impartial investigation” is established without delay into abuses of international human rights and humanitarian law, and to ensure “full accountability.”

“These include Israeli attacks that have been directed at civilians or civilian buildings in the Gaza Strip, or which are disproportionate, and Palestinian armed groups’ indiscriminate rocket attacks into civilian population centres in southern Israel,” an Amnesty statement released this week said.

“Where appropriate, states must be ready to initiate criminal investigations and carry out prosecutions before their own courts if the evidence warrants it.”

“The Israeli army’s attacks are often disproportionate and have killed hundreds of unarmed civilians,” said the Amnesty statement. “Attacks are also directed at civilians and civilian buildings.”

“Most of the civilian population in Gaza has no access to the humanitarian aid on which they depend,” said Amnesty. "They have nowhere to go for safety, while hospitals are overstretched and lacking basic necessities.”

“Meanwhile, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups persist in firing indiscriminate rockets into Israel.”

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Re: UK Jewish lawmaker: Israeli forces acting like Nazis

Shamraz:

[quote]
I have no doubt that Israel has committed war crime in Gaza, but I doubt if there is going to be any punishment.
[/quote]

You might have doubts, but I am certain that there is not going to be any punishment to the barbarians in that regime.
But I was asking what you think should happen to the criminal leaders of this regime.

I think that these leaders are criminals and also the people who support their acts.