- Note from M.H. -- Witness the supreme hypocrisy of the
Israelis who have murdered hundreds of Palestinian women and children since
the Intifada began in 2000, but who object to Palestinian suicide bombings
on moral grounds. For background on Israeli terror and Palestinian resistance,
see Seamus Milne's outstanding two part report in The Guardian:
- Defiant Member Of British Parliament Fired In Suicide
Bomber Controversy
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- --
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- Jenny Tonge was sacked yesterday as Liberal Democrat
spokesman for children after standing by remarks in which she said she
would consider becoming a suicide bomber if forced to live like Palestinians.
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- Charles Kennedy, Britain's Liberal Democrat leader, said
her comments were unacceptable. "They are not compatible with Liberal
Democrat party policies and principles.
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- "There can be no justification under any circumstances
for taking innocent lives through terrorism." Party officials said
Mr Kennedy had been "absolutely appalled" by Dr Tonge's comments.
He had been under mounting pressure to act after attempts to distance the
party from her views did not satisfy Opposition politicians.
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- Lord Janner, a vice-chairman of the British-Israeli parliamentary
group, said Mr Kennedy was right to sack Dr Tonge. "Her support for
terrorist suicide bombers is appalling and unworthy of any member of our
Parliament."
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- The Israeli embassy described Dr Tonge's remarks as "deeply
immoral" and said it was "shocked and appalled".
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- An Israeli government spokesman, Danny Seaman, said:
"In my eyes, she is more despicable than Hitler because she is supposed
to know the difference between right and wrong. She is condoning the murder
of children. Her morals are depraved.
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- "All statements like this do is to encourage more
suicide bombers to go out and murder. Suicide bombings are a strategic
weapon for the Palestinians."
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- Dr Tonge claimed, at a pro-Palestinian rally in Parliament
on Wednesday, that life under Israeli rule could be intolerable and made
her understand how people could become suicide bombers. "I think if
I had to live in that situation - and I say that advisedly - I might just
consider becoming one myself," she said.
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- Despite the protests, Dr Tonge made clear she was unrepentant
in a series of interviews yesterday.
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- She said she did not regret her comments although she
accepted they may have upset some people.
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- "I was just trying to say how, having seen the violence,
humiliation and provocation Palestinians live under every day, and have
done now for decades, I could understand, I was trying to understand, where
they come from," she said.
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- "If I had been a mother and a grandmother in Palestine
living for decades in that situation, I don't know, I may very well have
become one myself."
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- Dr Tonge later told BBC Breakfast: "That doesn't
mean to say I condone suicide bombers, I don't.
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- "I think it's appalling and loathsome. But we have
to try and understand where they are coming from and understand the situation
in which they live."
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- The spokesman for the Israeli embassy said there was
no political grievance or circumstance that could justify the deliberate
murder of innocent men, women and children.
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- "We wonder if Dr Tonge holds the same views about
suicide bombers who kill British, Western and Muslim civilians in Iraq,
Saudi Arabia, Bali, Turkey or Kenya?"
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- There was a danger her comments would add to the atmosphere
of "incitement and hatred" within Palestinian and Muslim societies,
which was the real reason for such terrorist attacks "and which last
year encouraged two British suicide bombers to travel to Israel to kill
innocent people", the spokesman said.
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- Dr Tonge will continue to represent her constituency,
Richmond Park, west London, from the back benches. She has already announced
that she will be standing down at the election.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/01/24/ntonge24.xml
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- 24 Hour Revisionist News Bureau http://www.revisionisthistory.org/news.html
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