- The events in Israel made Gerald Kaufman speak
out...
-
- Israel has turned into a "pariah state" under
prime minister Ariel Sharon and his ways of dealing with terrorism are
"unacceptable", Jewish senior Labour MP Gerald Kaufman has
claimed.
-
- The former minister said he was saddened by the way the
image of Israel had changed from "beacon" status to being
portrayed
by photographs of its soldiers "smirking over the corpse of a
Palestinian
they had just killed".
-
-
- Mr Kaufman, MP for Manchester Gorton, accused former
Labour prime minister Shimon Peres, now Israel's foreign minister, of
"humiliating"
himself by being involved in Sharon's government.
-
- "What the Israeli Labour Party, with its fine
traditions,
is doing associating with this right-wing thug, I cannot begin to
imagine."
-
- What is going on in that country is something that no
decent person can condone -- Labour MP Gerald Kaufman
-
- Mr Kaufman said a whole series of events had made him
to vent his fury, including "the photograph a few weeks ago of one
Israeli soldier photographing two others smirking over the corpse of a
Palestinian they had just killed".
-
- "This is not what Israel is all about and I am sad
about it because Israel was founded in idealism.
-
- "Obviously idealism has got to face up to reality
- but the attitude of this Israeli Government in dealing what is
undoubtedly
horrible terrorism is not only unacceptable in humanitarian terms, but
is also seriously unsuccessful in dealing with the terrorism," he
told the BBC's Today programme.
-
- "Four times as many Israelis have been killed by
terrorists since Sharon became prime minister."
-
- Mr Kaufman - who has written a book about Israel, called
To Build the Promised Land - said it used to be a "beacon of how you
build a country".
-
- Gerald Kaufman: "Israel was founded in
idealism"
"Today, I am very sorry to say, it is turning itself into a pariah
state with very few countries in the world willing to be its
friend."
-
- Mr Kaufman disagreed with the Britain's chief rabbi,
Dr Jonathon Sachs, who reportedly said criticism of the Israeli Government
could be anti-Semitic.
-
- "It is quite easy to excuse attacks on the Israelis,
or rather to explain them away, by saying this is anti-Semitism,"
Mr Kaufman said.
-
- "I am the last person in the world to be
anti-Semitic.
-
- "In my time I have faced anti-Semitism, but I am
pro-Israel.
-
- "I am obviously pro-Jew - but what is going on in
that country is something that no decent person can condone in terms of
the policy of the government.
-
- "I fear I have not had any contacts with the Israeli
Government for quite some time.
-
- "The people in government with whom I could talk
like Shimon Peres, a great seeker after peace, a great Labour prime
minister,
have humiliated themselves by involving themselves in this
government,"
Mr Kaufman concluded.
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