Mary Riddell in the Telegraph openly questions British leaders’ “affiliations” with the Israel lobby “club,” membership that is inappropriate at a time when the country is threatening to go to war with Iran. So the issue of Britain’s pro-Israel lobby now seems to have become part of the discussion there. Can we expect any US mainstream columnist to suggest that supporters of Israel in Congress become a little less hysterical? Riddell:
As speculation hardens into the possibility of aggression, what would David Cameron do? Like Tony Blair, who went to war five times in as many years, the PM has begun his premiership with an away victory, in Libya. The question of whether Cameron is prone to the Agincourt fever that consumed Blair is, for now, unanswerable, although any British PM would think twice before snubbing US requests for help.
In this uncertain climate, British parliamentarians must pick their chums more carefully. Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) and its Labour counterpart wield considerable financial clout and attract important members. Both Mr Blair and Gordon Brown joined LFI. While such links were once accepted without question, Mr Cameron and Ed Miliband should consider whether it is suitable any longer for senior figures to maintain affiliations that might attract suspicions of a conflict of interest.
Impartiality, never paramount in the politics of the Middle East, is essential for honest brokers. However terrifying the prospect of a nuclear Iran, and however confrontational its president, it is surely vital that all true friends of Israel remind its leaders that many of the causes of its estrangement are of its making and many remedies in its own gift. While no one should question Jewish statehood or take lightly the existential threat that Israel fears, nor should anyone one be afraid to say that gratuitous settlement building, failure to pursue peace with the Palestinians and the blockade of Gaza do not befit an advanced democracy that needs all the international backing it can muster.
While Israel’s predicament is all too real, no one in this stand-off has a monopoly on virtue. The only option, as obvious and elusive as ever, is for enhanced diplomacy and more sanctions against Iran. As a symbolic gesture of goodwill, the Westminster “friends” of Israel, or for that matter of the Palestinians, should shred their club cards and declare themselves instead to be friends of peace.
If the Torygraph says it, there must be some very unhappy conservatives in Britian right now.
“So the issue of Britain’s pro-Israel lobby now seems to have become part of the discussion there.”
Probably a result of the Fox/Werrity scandal.
In so called meantime:
“Manchester University is facing growing protests after caving in to Zionist pressure and forcing students organising a speaking tour by Professor Norman Finkelstein to move his planned lecture off campus.”
http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/
I attended Professor Finkelsteins meeting at Leeds University last night he was brilliant as usual. The auditorium was full to capacity with many having to be turned away,his speech was listened to without a single interuption throughout. I had a wonderful evening listening to a truly remarkable and courageous man, if the powers that be in Manchester university had been in attendance last night they would have learned what free speech is all about, they would also have been ashamed of their pusilanimity.