This article by Dr.Manfred Gerstenfeld on the debate in the British parliament on the bombing of Syria, first appeared in the Jerusalem Post, and republished here with the author’s consent.
UK: BOMBING SYRIA, HYPOCRISY AND SUPPORTING TERRORISTS
Manfred Gerstenfeld
Major parliamentary debates in Europe often have elements Israel should observe carefully. This is true of the UK parliamentary process, for instance, where hypocrisy, masked by illusions of fair play and good manners, can be exposed by examining speeches and voting history. One case is the major debate on 2 December when the House of Commons approved with a 174-vote majority the Government’s proposal to expand airstrikes against the Islamic State movement from Iraq to Syria.
The Labour party’s pacifist leader Jeremy Corbyn opened the debate for the opposition, and came out against the bombing.1 This extreme leftist had described Hamas and Hizbollah as “my friends” and several years ago, attended meetings organized by a Holocaust denier.2 Corbyn’s speech was however eclipsed by that of Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn. He spoke in favor of the airstrikes and said that Britain must attack the “fascists” of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant because “we never have, and we never should, walk by on the other side of the road.”3 In the current British environment it is still politically incorrect to use the more appropriate wording ‘Islamo-Nazis’ for the genocidal ISIS movement.
The Telegraph daily wrote that the speech would stand “as one of the great orations in our Parliament.”4 That may be, but Benn’s words will also stand as one more example of extreme hypocrisy in the ranks of the Labour party’s top brass.
In 2014 under its previous left-wing leader Ed Milliband Labour presented a motion in Parliament for Britain to recognize the Palestinian State. Benn voted in favor, and later described his feelings at the time: “I was proud as a Labour member of parliament last year to go through that division lobby in the vote on Palestinian recognition in the House of Commons and I want to say that I stand by the vote that I cast on that day.”5 As Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, Benn is familiar enough with the Middle East to be well aware that when he cast his vote, he did precisely what he condemned in his opponents in his speech on Syrian airstrikes. When he voted for the recognition of Palestine, he ‘walked by on the other side of the road’, deliberately ignoring that the majority Palestinian faction Hamas are Islamo-Nazis, and that their charter calls for the genocide of Israelis and Jews.
Benn also ignored that the second largest Palestinian faction Fatah and its leader Mahmoud Abbas, glorify murderers of Israeli civilians in many ways, and continue to incite in the current terrorist killing spree. In the debate on Syria, Benn said about ISIS “they hold us in contempt. They hold our values in contempt, they hold our belief in tolerance and decency in contempt, they hold our democracy – the rules by which we will make our decision tonight – in contempt.”6 All this can equally be said about the Palestinians whose non-existent state he recognizes.
While Benn now supports extreme bombing of ISIS, an organization which although expressing evil intent rarely attacks British citizens, he was not at all supportive when Israel finally reacted to the many rockets fired by Hamas into the country over the years, until Israel fought back massively in summer 2014. Benn felt Israel should have its hands tied through sanctions on UK military exports, and should settle the dispute through discussions with the Islamo-Nazis Hamas and Fatah.7 Perhaps his voters should ask him why he voted in favor of stepping up the bombing of Islamic State rather than volunteering to travel to the ISIS capital Raqqa and trying to settle the dispute through political dialogue.
The double-dealing Benn and the terrorist sympathizer Corbyn represent two aspects of the widespread degeneration in many European social democrat parties.
The application of the term “terrorist sympathizer” in this context was coined the day before the parliamentary debate by Prime Minister David Cameron, addressing the few conservative MPs who opposed the government’s involvement in Syria. He warned them that they should not vote with “Jeremy Corbyn and a bunch of terrorist sympathizers.”8 During the debate, there were several demands from Labour and Scottish National Party MPs for Cameron to apologize for his use of this expression. The Prime Minister refused, yet softened his remark to say there was “honor” both in voting for or against military action.9 Later Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said on the BBC that Corbyn and the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer John McDonell looked like terrorist sympathizers to her.10
Cameron’s use of the term “terrorist sympathizers” for opponents of British airstrikes against ISIS in Syria raises questions about the timidity of Israeli politicians. They rarely make similar statements about the many anti-Israel hate mongering politicians, biased media, NGOs, liberal church leaders and trade unionists, however well-deserved such statements would be. These inciters condemn Israel and remain silent about Palestinian Islamo-Nazis and those who glorify the killing of civilians.
Other elements surrounding this debate also relate to Israeli interests. There are still Israelis who think that Britain is the country of fair play. Both before and after the vote there was major abuse – not limited to the social media — of Labour MPs who supported the government. Photographs of dead Syrian children were shoved under the front doors of some MPs. After his speech Benn was called a murderer and received death threats via social media. MP Stella Creasy was subjected to a tweet: ‘Enjoy sleeping when the first child dies. Maybe you can keep one of their limbs as a souvenir?” MP Neil Coyle, said: “I have received several threats to my safety and have flagged one to the police. It’s a first for me to be threatened with violence by people claiming to be pacifists.”11 The Holocaust was brought into the threats as well. One Labour member said that former leadership candidate Liz Kendall and others should suffer a Nazi-style ‘final solution.’12
During the debate questions were asked why ISIS is still around, despite all the airstrikes by Western forces to date. After the debate Defense Secretary Michael Fallon predicted that the bombing in Syria would last for at least three years.13 This perhaps is an example of British understatement. The debate made it clear the West has no detailed strategy to end ISIS rule over a territory. As this radical Muslim movement is also a threat to Israel it is important to realize that ISIS is likely to be around for quite a few years.
Footnotes:
1 Michael Wilkinson, “Jeremy Corbyn: Syria air strikes are ‘another ill-fated twist in never-ending war on terror’,” The Telegraph, 2 December 2015.
2 Tamara Cohen, “I might have given cash to Holocaust denier, says Corbyn: Labour leadership candidate admits attending ‘two or three’ events but was unaware of his views at the time,” The Daily Mail, 18 August 2015.
3 Ben Riley-Smith and Michael Wilkinson, “Syria airstrikes vote: Britain to begin bombing within hours after MPs overwhelmingly back action,” The Telegraph, 3 December 2015.
4 Col Tim Collins, “Hilary Benn’s speech was the speech of a true leader,” The Telegraph, 3 December 2015.
5 Jon Stone, “The Palestinian people have the right to a state, says Labour’s Hilary Benn,” The Independent, 5 October 2015
6 Ben Riley-Smith and Michael Wilkinson, “Syria airstrikes vote: Britain to begin bombing within hours after MPs overwhelmingly back action,” The Telegraph, 3 December
7 Hilary Benn, “Statement on Gaza,” www.hilarybennmp.com
8 Nicholas Watt, “David Cameron accuses Jeremy Corbyn of being ‘terrorist sympathiser’,” The Guardian, 2 December 2015.
9 “Syria vote: Cameron and Corbyn clash over air strikes,” BBC News, 2 December 2015
10 Ibid.
11 Martin Robinson and Matt Chorley, “Labour MP who voted for Syria airstrikes calls in police after Twitter death threat as Corbyn urges party members not to bully the 66 rebels on ‘traitor list’,” The Daily Mail, 3 December 2015.
12 Martin Robinson, “Anti-war campaigners send female Labour MPs photos of dead Syrian children as they prepare to vote on airstrikes against ISIS,” The Daily Mail, 2 December 2015.
13 Jon Stone, “Bombing campaign in Syria set to last for years, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon says,” The Independent, 3 December 2015.
One mistake you make here, the British Labour party have never been Social Democrats. They are marxists and have always been marxists.
Social democrats have the same end goals, complete domination of the private sector. Regardless of the nuances, it all leads to one end…..Statism.