WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
Letter
In Defence of Gaza
Thank you for publishing Mr Bennett’s letter, In Defence of Israel (HIP 268) albeit with a disclaimer. If nothing else, it does present an opportunity to set the record straight.
The authoritative tone of the letter masks many falsehoods. He begins explaining that absence of ‘intent’ means no genocide is taking place. This ignores the fact that the presence of ‘intent’ has already been confirmed, not least by ‘Law for Palestine’ who have researched and documented over 500 pieces of evidence clearly showing ‘intent’. It is partly the presence of such clear ‘intent’ that has led to the ICJ’s ruling that it is “plausible” Israel has indeed committed acts that violate the Genocide Convention.
The arrest warrants to Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity by the ICC have not been issued without good reason. Mr Bennett tries to contrast all this with the outdated 37-year-old Hamas Covenant; he ignores the fact that in 2017 Hamas revised its policies and now accepts a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. In contrast, Israel wants all of Palestine for itself, hence the root cause of the conflict.
Another falsehood is the unevidenced claim of “not a single march, protest or letter to an MP” against the “genocide in Sudan/Darfur” or “jihadist terrorist” killing in Nigeria. The important difference is that the UK is not directly complicit in those genocides. In this one, we clearly are. Not least because of the Balfour Declaration, which is why British people have such a historic duty to speak out on this issue.
On Israel’s ethnic cleansing, despite it being well-documented over decades and the many loud and current calls to accelerate the crime from Israeli politicians and extremist groups, Mr Bennett, says all this is “simply untrue”. He claims inhabitants in Northern Gaza were just “asked to move”, itself a war crime, so the IDF could “eliminate Hamas”. He doubles down by saying that “since then, many have returned to the area without hindrance from the IDF”. This ignores the extreme difficulties placed on returnees, despite the ceasefire, and that most of them now have very little in the way of homes to return to anyway. Much of Gaza has deliberately been made uninhabitable by Israel in an act of inhumane and unbelievable cruelty.
Perhaps the most insidious part of the letter was this “The real genocide was made by Hamas on 7 October, storming into a kibbutz, murdering, raping and burning 1200”. Many deaths undoubtedly did occur that day, including an unknown number inflicted on its own people by the IDF as part of their ‘Hannibal Directive’. But much of what was said to have happened has now been thoroughly debunked as ‘atrocity propaganda’.
False accusations of mass rape and beheaded babies were used at the beginning of the conflict to try and portray Palestinians as subhuman in order justify the genocide that Israel was intent on committing. Shamefully, this happened with the collusion of our mainstream media and politicians. Whatever happened on October 7 it was far less brutal than what Israel has subsequently carried out in Gaza. And it cannot be seen, or understood, in isolation from the preceding decades of land theft, racism, injustice and apartheid that have been visited on a beleaguered Palestinian people held captive in their own ancestral land by European settlers ever since 1948. Some things are indefensible, and unforgivable. Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinians is one of them.
Yours faithfully,
Philip Colley
Letter
UNRELIABLE EVIDENCE
Dear HIP,
I had to comment on your editorial remark about the In Defence of Israel letter: ‘editorially we do not accept its contentions and believe many are unsupported by facts. In particular the Israeli Prosecutor’s Office have admitted that no allegations of rape or sexual assault have been filed from the 7 October cross-border attack.’ You could not have chosen a less reliable form of evidence.
The TV news film of the post-attack landscape, with bodies strewn about, clearly shows women who had been violently sexually assaulted–in a state of undress, with blood in the relevant area, and with a bullet hole to the forehead–which might just account for them not having made an allegation to the Prosecutor’s Office.
I’m not sure if post-mortems were carried out on these victims of gang rape and execution facing their masked killer, but if there were, these will be another source of highly reliable evidence.
A number of the hostages who have been returned to their families have confided in people they trust, that they have been mistreated in various ways, including sexually. There may well be medical reports on these people, which you could have investigated.
I would guess these victims saw no point in retelling (and reliving) their experiences to the Prosecutor when they saw little hope of any of the perpetrators being prosecuted for their criminal actions. The UK annual British Crime Survey asks a proper sample of the population aged 16+ of their experiences of crime and always shows that sexual crimes are heavily under-reported to the police. The gap is even bigger for male victims than for women.
In other words, you have picked on the most unreliable piece of evidence you could possibly find, and ignored far better sources.
The history behind the current turmoil is too long to go into, and people are entitled to hold all sorts of opinions about the actions of both sides, so long as these are based on facts. As a historian, my objection is to the use of ‘dodgy’ statistics.
Hamas has deliberately brought nothing but misery to the Palestinians but the Hamas-run Ministry of Health’s death and injury figures look factually accurate to me, and of course there are unknown numbers of bodies buried in the piles of rubble.
Harriet Lloyd
From our website
EXTRAORDINARY COMMENTS
I wish to contest your “editorial” comments on the post In Defence of Israel, which I find quite extraordinary and unnecessary.
Your claim that the “Israeli Prosecutor’s Office have admitted that no allegations of rape or sexual assault have been filed from the 7 October cross-border attack” are sourced from Jew and Israel hating sources.
What you fail to report is that Moran [Israeli prosecutor Moran Gaz] claimed that the failure to gather evidence could be because the victims are dead or unwilling to approach women’s rights organisations. I know HiP is a completely biased Anti-zionist mouthpiece, but I suggest you stick to local politics. I’m fed up with well-heeled white leftists telling its readers what to think, in what is a highly complex regional war.
Manick Govinda
From our website
ROTTEN ORANGES
I work on the premise that if it has a thick skin you don’t have to do organic. Your article on oranges, Rotten or Ripe in HIP 268, has made me think.
I get organic marmalade as you eat the orange’s skin, but not organic oranges otherwise; definitely get organic tomatoes and strawberries, but only organic bananas to save the poor pickers from handling the toxins.
Liz Coleman
Letter
Dear HIP
In ‘Rotten or Ripe’ (HIP no. 268), Susan McFie explores the issue of fruit picked too early and artificially ripened, and touches on the potential health issues associated with applying pesticides. She says that in the UK there is no information about the chemicals used in production of fruit and vegetables, or about potential residues. In fact, there is an organisation based in Brighton called the Pesticide Action Network (PAN UK–pan-uk.org) which highlights the problems caused by pesticides. The government monitors residue levels of chemicals in food consumed in the UK, and each year PAN analyses the results and publishes the ‘Dirty Dozen’ list. This is the list of fruits and vegetables most likely to be contaminated with multiple pesticides (known as ‘pesticide cocktails’) which they consider pose the highest risk to health: there is a growing body of evidence that chemicals become more harmful when combined. Coincidentally, topping the most recent list are soft citrus fruits closely followed by oranges. As Susan McFie says, the best choice is to opt for organic, but because going all-organic is an unaffordable luxury for most people, this list helps you decide which foods are worth paying the extra for.
Jill Kaye
From our website
COUNCIL SHAKE-UP
Regarding End Game for Local Councils (HIP 268), this is the biggest reform of local government for 50 years and will profoundly affect all our lives, but it has been almost totally ignored by the mainstream media, both nationally and locally. So congratulations on writing such a well-informed report.
Derek Read
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I completely agree with you. I am a retired journalist and know how things work in the BBC and ITV. Mr Bennett’s letter was propaganda and spin by a man with a seemingly narrow vision; a very closed mind indeed. He may have had limited information as avenues for information are subject to powerful controls or, more likely he just can’t bring himself to see the truth because it casts such a dark shadow. His comments showed little understanding or compassion for innocent civilians nor it seems, genuine human feeling or rational response, or the capacity to understand what Israel has actually done to thousands of innocent Palestinians as opposed to Hamas fighters.As far as IDF and Netanyahu are concerned even toddlers were Hamas fighters of the future, so became targets -poor little lambs. I ache for deaths on each sides yes. But Israel had the most powerful weapons, was the most proficient and deadly, has the power, the backing of the US and the UK via first the Tories and now Starmer. Britain is also culpable – through silence, suppression of protest, suppression of news and facts, and by the sale of sophisticated weaponry. The Israeli Ambassador to the UK has made despicable remarks. What has been done by Israel since October 7th is simply inexcusable oppression did not begin on Oct 7th. I believe Israel has a strategic plan which is multi layered with many what if’s as yet not answered, because it had to be fluid. But it has one objective which is to own Gaza. It wants to eradicate all Palestinians and will continue. The ceasefire will not hold. Netanyahu is making a big play of being Trump’s first foreign PM to visit the USA. That tells me everything I need to know in this current period. Israel through the refusal to allow a purged UNWRA to do its humanitarian work, are wishing to deny medicines to a Palestine devoid of anything that can be called a decent hospital.Malnutrition, disease from this and no sewage treatment will follow. Unconscionable. Hamas must release all hostages but as soon as they do, I see Armgadeddon coming to Palestine. Israel has now created more genuine antisemitism (an antisemitism which is wrong in and of itself) than existed before, ironically, as we people who have fought fascists and antisemitism all our lives, see it rising. The weaponisation of it created a flood. Now, in terms of the reality of what has gone on this past 15 months, we see for more truth emerging through alternative sources, as well as through the MSM late in the day. We understand journalists from the West were denied entry into Palestine to document all of IDF’s atrocities. We know some editors have been placed in positions of editorial control over others’ reportage, and suppressed truth. But we have seen footage and now more verified footage has come to light. I am sickened to my stomach by what Israel is capable of. My Jewish friends are distraught. I must say I have long been distraught myself at the oil-loving playboys of Saudi, UAE and yes even Qatar too, who have for decades done next to nothing to help and really support Palestinians. They too just seem to want the Palestinians to disappear. (I also to be clear, loathe everything Iran currently stands for and what it does to women).