Cross-party fury of MPs at Israel

Published on Monday 12 January 2009 21:14

BRITISH MPs yesterday lined up to give their strongest condemnation yet of Israel's actions in Gaza, branding Ehud Olmert's government "mass murderers" and calling for the country to face sanctions.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, faced cross-party demands for Israel's ambassador to be expelled from London and for Britain to recall its representative from Tel Aviv.

The strongest criticism in the one hour session, that followed a statement from the Foreign Secretary, came from Sir Gerald Kaufman, a former Labour minister, who is Jewish.

Directing his fury at the Israeli prime minister, foreign minister and defence minister, he said: "Olmert, (Tzipi] Livni and (Ehud] Barak are mass murderers, war criminals and bring shame on the Jewish people whose Star of David they use as a badge in Gaza."

He suggested the British government would have taken a more strident tone if it had been Hamas who had "slaughtered 900 Israelis".

Peter Kilfoyle, a former Labour defence minister, also accused Israel of "state-sponsored terrorism" and urged the government to ensure no arms were exported to the country.

Sir Menzies Campbell, the former Liberal Democrat leader, said if any other democratic state had behaved in the same way, it would be faced with economic sanctions.

Michael Howard, the former Conservative leader, took a swipe at the outgoing Bush administration's lack of progress on the Middle East and said there was a "glimmer of hope on the horizon" with the election of Barack Obama, the US president-elect.

"It is only the president of the US who has the means to secure the concessions from both sides that are necessary to achieve a viable Palestinian state and a lasting settlement," he said.

Chris Mullin, a former Foreign Office minister, said "These are war crimes that we are witnessing in Gaza.

"Britain should start talking with EU allies about sanctions and "at the very least to stop selling them weapons and, perhaps, the withdrawal of our ambassador".

Mr Miliband rejected calls for severing diplomatic ties and imposing sanctions, saying this would simply isolate Israel. However, he called for abuse allegations made by both sides to be investigated.

He added that there was "no evidence" that UK weapons were used by the Israeli defence force in the latest attacks.