Lord Phillips: The UK government’s policy on Israel acts as a ‘recruiting sergeant for extremism’

Monday, 11 January 2010 11:27

Liberal Democrat peer, Lord Phillips of Sudbury (pictured), writes to The Guardian (Guardian Letters, Saturday 9th January) on the conflicting messages in Government policy pertaining to the Middle East and security.

Lord Phillips writes:

‘The start of the new year brought reports of the usual incomplete and confusing government messages over Israel and Palestine. On the one hand, our attorney general was lecturing at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israeli officials should not face arrest in UK, says Lady Scotland, 6 January) assuring them that our law will be changed to limit the arrest here of Israeli citizens in respect of serious crimes committed in Palestine.

‘On the other, Alan Johnson was telling the Commons of heightened airport security after the Christmas airline terror attack (Targeted security checks planned, 6 January), but without any reference to the broader context. This will confirm the view in the wider – particularly Muslim – world that British policy is one-sided and short-sighted. Israel's relentless, violent colonisation of the West Bank and its brutal attack on and continuing siege of Gaza would, if perpetrated by any other mature democracy, long ago have led to extreme sanctions and ostracism. Instead we and the US, year after year, do little more than slap Israel on the wrist and go on supporting it. Nothing could be a more potent recruiting sergeant for extremism, which no amount of security hardware and invasive surveillance can make up for.

‘In so doing, we betray not only international law and the oppressed Palestinians, but also the large Israeli minority who look to us for a clear-eyed, firm lead on these tragic and intractable problems.

(Lord) Andrew Phillips
Sudbury, Suffolk’

You can write to Lord Phillips and convey your appreciation for his clear-sighted views and his remonstration of the grave flaws in our Government’s policy, addressing your letter to:

The (Rt Hon. the) Lord Phillips of Sudbury OBE
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW.

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