The Cameron government’s failure to take an effective line against the Israeli assault on Gaza was brought into sharp focus this week when a senior minister resigned and triggered a rebellion amongst Conservative MPs who have become increasingly uneasy with their government’s refusal to take any substantive action against Israel for the more than 1,800 people they have killed in the past few weeks.
Baroness Warsi was a senior minister in the Foreign Office who told Prime Minister David Cameron that Britain’s approach and language over Gaza is morally indefensible and not in Britain’s national interest, and is not consistent with British values nor Britain’s commitment to international law. As the news of Warsi’s resignation spread, other Conservatives supported her action. Alistair Burt, the former Foreign Office minister responsible for the Middle East, said “there is a concern that Israel’s attempts to protect itself and destroy terrorist tunnels is at such dreadful expense of human life. That’s there on the Conservative benches and throughout Parliament”. More personal support came from a growing number of MPs like former justice minister, Crispin Blunt, and Damian Green, former immigration minister.
Britain has a duty like any other leading nation, to take a clear stance against Israel’s illegal activities on the West Bank as it expands its colonies, and in Gaza as it terrorises the population. The deeply unscrupulous Netanyahu government is delighted to take international silence as consent for its actions, and Warsi is right to try to end this miserable lack of proper action.
