Al-Aqsa attack: Boris Johnson’s silence over Israeli violence is a disgrace

After the invasion of the Al-Aqsa mosque, Netanyahu praises Israel’s security forces for “upholding a just struggle to maintain law and order”. Al Jazeera reports.

JVL Introduction

In an excoriating condemnation Peter Oborne rounds on Boris Johnson for his abject failure to speak out against Israel provocations in East Jerusalem after Israeli forces invaded al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-most sacred site in Islam.

And Dominic Raab was silent until he condemned Hamas rockets and called for “immediate de-escalation on all sides”, thus establishing a false equivalence between occupier and occupied…

We are, as Oborne makes clear “not talking, as Israel disingenuously claims, of a ‘real-estate dispute’. We are talking about forcible evictions are part of a state-sanctioned policy to change the demographic character of occupied East Jerusalem, which includes settlements and demolitions. It is … a struggle for the future of the Palestinian presence in the city.”

This article was originally published by Middle East Eye on Tue 11 May 2021. Read the original here.

Al-Aqsa attack: Boris Johnson's silence over Israeli violence is a disgrace

It’s been less than a week since British Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered two patrol vessels to the Channel Islands port of St Helier in an escalation of tensions with France.

Amid front-page banner headlines and media fanfare, government sources accused Paris of sinking lower than Jersey’s Nazi occupiers during the Second World War. According to a government source quoted by the Telegraph: “At least when the Germans invaded they kept the lights on.”

Welcome to what passes for foreign policy in Johnson’s Britain. Compare and contrast this with the British prime minister’s reaction to the terrible events in Jerusalem over the past few days.

Israeli forces firing rubber-coated metal bullets and dispensing tear gas invaded al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-most sacred site in Islam. Yet, the British prime minister had nothing to say.

We’ve witnessed terrible scenes of Israeli police brutality. Silence from the British prime minister. Overnight, at least 25 dead in Gaza, including nine children. More silence. Horrifying scenes of racist chanting against Palestinians by Israelis at the Western Wall. Silence.

‘Utterly indefensible’

Admittedly, it’s been a busy few days for Johnson in the wake of British elections. But election pressures did not stop Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon from issuing a statement on Saturday that attacking al-Aqsa was “utterly indefensible” and a “violation of international law”.

On Monday, Labour leader Keir Starmer (better late than never!) added his voice: “The violence against worshippers during Ramadan at the al-Aqsa mosque was shocking,” he tweeted. “Israel must respect international law.”

Still, nothing from Johnson. When Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab finally made a statement on Monday night, it was to condemn the firing of Hamas rockets out of Gaza, adding a meaningless call for “immediate de-escalation on all sides”, thus establishing a false equivalence between occupier and occupied. Raab has said nothing about the killing of 25 people, including nine children, in Israeli reprisals overnight.

We are witnessing what could become the most dangerous crisis in the Middle East for years. Yet, there has been no serious response from the Johnson government and, inexcusably, nothing from the prime minister himself.

Britain remains a member of the UN Security Council, while only two months ago, Johnson published his integrated defence and security strategy, which claimed to set out a vision for a global Britain. It asserted the British dedication to the “values of democracy and a commitment to universal human rights, the rule of law, freedom of speech and faith, and equality.”

Global human rights

To the point of tedium, the British foreign office reiterates its dedication to global human rights. But remember this: Britain did more than any other country to bring into existence the state of Israel.

The Balfour Declaration in 1917 not only promised to deliver a homeland for the Jews, but also pledged that “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine”. After a week of Israeli police brutality, in which al-Aqsa Mosque has been raided three times, that promise lies in ruins.

Why the silence? Part of the answer lies in the yawning gap that has opened up between British foreign office advice and Tory government policy.

Philip Hall, the British consul general in Jerusalem, is well aware of and condemns the demolitions and forced evictions in occupied East Jerusalem, which are the root cause of the weekend’s horrific events. Indeed, the consulate published a video showing Hall speaking to residents in Sheikh Jarrah.

“The UK position on this is clear,” Hall said. “East Jerusalem is occupied and it’s been illegally annexed, the restitution and planning laws here and their implementation are unfair, and they breach Israel’s obligations as an occupying power.”

Moral horrors

Yet, Raab has – unforgivably – failed to spell this out. We are not talking, as Israel disingenuously claims, of a “real-estate dispute”. We are talking about forcible evictions are part of a state-sanctioned policy to change the demographic character of occupied East Jerusalem, which includes settlements and demolitions. It is not a tedious real-estate dispute, but a struggle for the future of the Palestinian presence in the city.

Raab shamefully waited until the Hamas reprisals before making a statement, and then he confined himself to a feeble call for both sides to de-escalate.

The Tories have not always been afraid to criticise Israel. In 2006, William Hague, then the shadow foreign secretary, used the term “disproportionate” about the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. His remarks were followed by protests and an alleged threat to withdraw Tory funding from Lord Kalms, an important donor and member of the Conservative Friends of Israel.

To the best of my knowledge – and I will happily correct this if I am wrong – no senior Tory has ever used that phrase again. It is time they did. Disproportionate is not a strong enough word to describe Israel’s actions in recent days.

Of course, the British government should also condemn the use of rockets by Hamas, which has been not just unforgivable but unwise, drawing attention away from the terrible injustices in occupied East Jerusalem and inviting fresh bloodshed in Gaza.

But it’s time for the British prime minister to speak out loudly against the moral horrors of Israeli policy in occupied East Jerusalem and beyond – and not just to urge justice for beleaguered Palestinians.


The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Peter Oborne won best commentary/blogging in 2017 and was named freelancer of the year in 2016 at the Online Media Awards for articles he wrote for Middle East Eye. He was also named as British Press Awards Columnist of the Year in 2013. He resigned as chief political columnist of the Daily Telegraph in 2015. His latest book, The Assault on Truth, was published in February 2021. His previous books include The Triumph of the Political Class, The Rise of Political Lying, and Why the West is Wrong about Nuclear Iran.


Thanks to Middle East Eye for permission to repost this article

Comments (8)

  • Paul Smith says:

    And Keir Starmer et al

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  • John Mclaughlin says:

    This from Johnson is only to be expected, fascists do not condemn fascists.

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  • Jack T says:

    rogerwaters (@Roger Waters) Tweeted: One of many reasons I love Ireland and its people.
    Love
    R.

    PS I bet the Israeli Ambassador’s answer was a hoot. So I do. https://twitter.com/rogerwaters/status/1392556084527783938?s=27

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  • Paul Wimpeney says:

    Peter Oborne gives his normal, forthright opinion – the traditionalist Tory individual who tells the truth as he sees it. But, what would he have those resisting the oppression of the Israeli state do?

    Hamas are accused of attacking civilian areas; how are people in an occupation meant to hit back at the occupying power that has fenced them in and placed its own civilians all around them? How were those people under siege in earlier centuries allowed to retaliate against those enforcing the siege?

    The psychological benefit of hitting back against a powerful opponent has long been acknowledged, when compared with passively suffering whatever the oppressors wish to throw at you. Will it work to deter the Israeli war-planes? Of course not. Do the fighters understand that? Of course they do.

    Has the “peace process” since 2014, 2009, 1993 etc. etc. produced anything better for Palestinians?

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  • Chris Main says:

    The BBC 6 o’clock News report (10.5.21) of the police assault on Al Aqsa did the same as Dominic Raab: starting their report with the Hamas rockets and the deaths in Gaza, then mid-way saying ‘earlier …’ as a way of dealing what went on in the morning thereby disassociating the two events and blaming Hamas as the aggressor. Then Jeremy Bowen was studio interviewed describing the unfolding events as an ancient struggle for holy sites between two bickering sides.His role as Middle East Editor since 2005 (despite having been attacked for bias in 2009 and his driver being killed by Israeli tank fire in 2000) has coincided with silence over the OTP and the on-going colonisation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank. I think it is time to issue a call for Bowen to be sacked. Also I think Peter Oborne is right to describe Hamas rocket firing as counter-productive and diversionary. Nothing justifies the indiscriminate targeting of civilians. Yet the whole world was exposed to the realities of settler colonialism, apartheid and ethnic cleansing over Sheikh Jarrah, Silwan and the violation of Haram al Sharif. Now it is Gaza that dominates and Netanyahu is off the hook when he should be in jail.

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  • DJ says:

    I’m left asking myself a simple question. When will it be possible to release Palestinian refugees from Israel’s open air prison? Gaza is an overcrowded enclave under siege because it’s inhabitants have the temerity to demand a better future.

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  • DJ says:

    Has the British government really got the right to condemn the use of rockets by Hamas?Wasn’t it a British government that facilated the ethnic cleansing of the ancestors of the Palestinian residents of Gaza? Surely we bear some responsibility for the appalling conditions they live under.

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  • DJ says:

    Israel is targeting media outlets in Gaza. No mention or condemnation of this by MSM or the government. Hardly surprising. We don’t want the public to know too much about the horrors of this Israeli onslaught on the defenceless Gaza strip. Our little Englander supporters are not really bothered about the plight of a bunch of Muslims in a far away country. Palestinian lives are expendable to keep us all safe from these jihadists. All we need to do, is just keep blaming Hamas for all this “violence” and tell everybody to”calm it”and make out we are trying to get some pretend “peace process” back on track.

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