A Response to Anneliese Dodds MP on Gaza
JVL Introduction
Jamie Stern-Weiner wrote to his MP expressing his concerns about the war on Gaza. She responded with the anodyne response that has become standard issue, Labour Party fare from Starmer downwards.
Stern-Weiner responds with restrained anger at Labour Party’s ability to say anything except what matters i.e. a call for a ceasefire now:
“Morally, your position amounts to granting Israel the “right” to forcibly encage a civilian population—including more than one million children—from birth unto death in a space that, according to the United Nations, Israel has rendered “unliveable”.”
You can read the Anneliese Dodds letter to which this is a response at the foot of the post below.
RK
This article was originally published by Jamie Stern-Weiner's blog on Tue 14 Nov 2023. Read the original here.
A Response to Anneliese Dodds MP's anodyne position on Gaza
Jamie-Stern Weiner’s response:
Dear Anneliese Dodds MP,
You refer to “the horrendous terrorist attacks on people in Israel” and then to “Gaza in a humanitarian emergency”. Have the people of Gaza not been subject to “horrendous terrorist attacks”, or are we to understand that the “humanitarian emergency” there sprang from nowhere?
You demand that “international law is upheld” and state that “Israel has the right to self-defence and to degrade the capabilities of Hamas”. All leading human rights organisations agree that Israel presides in Gaza over an illegal siege atop an illegal occupation. International law confers no right on an occupying power to forcibly suppress a self-determination struggle, whereas international law does not prohibit the resort to force by an occupied people to prosecute their self-determination struggle. By granting Israel’s “right” to use force in “self-defence” while saying nothing about the rights of the people of Gaza to their “self-defence” and “to degrade the capabilities” of Israel, your statement precisely inverts the distribution of rights and duties under international law.
Morally, your position amounts to granting Israel the “right” to forcibly encage a civilian population—including more than one million children—from birth unto death in a space that, according to the United Nations, Israel has rendered “unliveable”.
As Israel damaged or destroyed fully 45 percent of homes in Gaza, as Israel employed what Oxfam termed “[s]tarvation” as a “weapon of war” in Gaza, and as Israel ended the lives of more children in Gaza than were killed across all the world’s combat zones combined each year in 2020, 2021, and 2022—in short, as Israel pummelled and pulverised the Gaza “prison camp” (to quote the foreign secretary)—what was the contribution of the Labour Party?
To steadfastly oppose a ceasefire.
Even now, more than one month in to a bloodletting carried out in broad daylight, the best you can muster is a demand for “a full and immediate humanitarian pause”.
I am sure you did not enter politics to facilitate the massacre of innocents, of “family and friends”, trapped in an inferno. Lamentably, it’s what you’ve chosen to do.
Yours faithfully,
Jamie Stern-Weiner
Anneliese Dodds MP (Labour, Oxford East) has sent by email the following statement on Gaza:
Dear constituent,
Thank you for writing to me to raise your concerns about the situation in Israel and Gaza.
I know many people living in Oxford who have family and friends in Gaza and in Israel, or have simply been watching events unfold with grave concern about the impact on innocent civilians – first, from the horrendous terrorist attacks on people in Israel, and now with Gaza in a humanitarian emergency, and not nearly enough aid or essential utilities getting in. Understandably, I have received a very large volume of correspondence from concerned constituents. I am trying to respond as quickly as possible given that this is a fast-moving situation; as a result, I may not be able to provide a fulsome response to every individual element of emails but will do my very best in the below to respond to your concerns.
We all want the violence to end and to be replaced by a lasting peace. While Israel has the right to self-defence and to degrade the capabilities of Hamas to carry out such horrendous attacks, it must do so within international law. Self-defence is not a blank cheque. As I have said publicly repeatedly, it is imperative that international law is upheld. That requires Israel to act in accordance with the principles of necessity, distinction, proportionality and precaution – civilians, hospitals, schools, and refugee camps must be protected and cannot be targets, and there must be guarantees that Palestinians forced to flee will not be permanently displaced.
Moreover, the aid getting into Gaza is still completely insufficient, and it is unacceptable that Israel still has not lifted the siege conditions.
Labour is therefore calling for a full and immediate humanitarian pause in the fighting across the whole of Gaza to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and for Hamas terrorists to release the hostages. The full pause must start now to get sufficient food, water, electricity, medicine, and fuel into Gaza and address the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe.
The short pauses announced by Israel are a first step, but on their own they won’t make the impact needed to relieve this humanitarian crisis. The damage to water pipelines and other infrastructure needs to be rebuilt, and that requires a longer pause.
We must, however, move to a full cessation of fighting as quickly as possible. The reality is that neither the long-term security of Israel, nor long-term justice for Palestine, can be delivered by bombs and bullets. A political agreement – however unlikely that seems today – is the only way to resolve this conflict, once and for all.
A lasting peace will require negotiations and a path to an independent Palestine and a secure Israel. Labour recognises Britain’s historic responsibility, and we believe it is totally wrong that the two-state solution was left out of the recent UK government’s UK-Israel road map. If Labour is given the chance to serve, we would strive to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state and would appoint a special envoy for Middle East peace to recharge diplomacy with all parties in the region to gain maximum influence towards the two-state solution that is so necessary.
In addition, we have redoubled our calls for illegal settlement activity to end, as well as violence and intimidation on the West Bank. And we are calling on the UK government to increase the UK’s humanitarian aid to Gaza by an extra £10 million, appoint a UK special coordinator for international aid to Gaza, for the immediate deployment of British experts and medical support teams, and for the government to work with international partners to give UN agencies, such as UNRWA, the long-term resources they need.
It has been awful to see a rise in both Antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents. I will continue to do all I can to try and counter hatred and abuse, including maintaining contact with the local police in their work to protect our communities. Our city must be a safe and welcoming place for everyone. Sadly I know that there is much we still need to do to ensure that everyone in Oxford feels and is safe. I supported the initial inter-faith statement produced by religious representatives, having worked with them towards this, and recently attended the peace vigil which we convened in Oxford city centre that was attended by community and faith leaders from across our city.
Now more than ever it’s important that in our city of Oxford we stand together to support each other.
Yours sincerely,
Anneliese
Jamie`s points are absolutely right, but the Labour Party has steadfastly stood by the Zionist entity since its inception. Other than the brief period under Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour Party has always been a zionist party. Dodds response comes as no surprise. Other than a handfull of dissenting Labour MP`s they are all effectively complicit in the ongoing genocide.
Well said, Jamie.
What do “humanitarian pauses” mean? Some food, water and medical supplies would be allowed in, so Palestinians can patch up their wounds and get a bite to eat before the killing resumes, so at least they won’t die on an empty stomach?
Nothing less than a complete ceasefire can suffice.
PS Dodds says she “may not be able to provide a fulsome response” to emails on this subject. Will politicians PLEASE learn the meaning of “fulsome!” It means excessively or insincerely complimentary or flattering. Is that what she meant?
Using ‘humanitarian emergency’ to describe the situation in Gaza, as Dodds does, is sickening, this is not a natural diasaster like a flood or earthquake. And what’s the point in anodyne ‘calls for illegal settlement activity to end’ when illegal settlement is an enshrined part of the Zionist project?
Great article, thank you Jamie.
Dodd’s letter, is quite pathetic, it’s saying the Genocide needs to carry on but a pause is needed for humanitarian reasons, it’s one long waffle. She says the Words “Israel has the right to self-defence and to degrade the capabilities of Hamas to carry out such horrendous attacks”. Pushing for the Lie that Hamas is the aggressor and Israel the victim.
What about the 75 years of suffering from murders, their farms and villages being bulldozed, the beating or killing of those that try to stop them and all the land theft and illegal settlements, then there’s Gaza which has been turned into the world’s largest concentration camp and is regularly bombed killing innocent civilians.
Dodds needs a reality check.