THE horror of the images from Gaza, shown nightly on tv news, is almost to much too bear. But one scene has been particularly hard to forget.
Two little boys, faces covered in dust from the latest Israeli air strike, were running around crying in bewilderment, looking for their father. Minutes later, the smaller one realises he has been killed, along with their baby brother, and lies buried beneath the rubble. The older boy falls to his knees, weeping, his head in his hands, devastated.
Would anyone be surprised if those young boys grow up to hate all Israelis, ripe for recruitment by Hamas, or whoever replaces it?
Read more:
- May the light of humanity shine on Gaza this Hanukkah – Patricia Mac Bride
- Mary Kelly: Slaughter in Middle East needs to stop now
- Tom Kelly: As war rages in Gaza, it's time for politicians to take risks for peace
Netanyahu says his forces won’t stop until Hamas is destroyed. How will he know when that has happened? How will flattening Gaza and killing thousands of Palestinians wipe out the leadership which is currently directing operations from Qatar?
And yes, the revolting crimes of savage sexual violence and degradation of Israeli women by Hamas terrorists must be utterly condemned. But they are not a justification for what is happening now.
The UN says Gaza is at breaking point. But Israel’s enablers, the United States, vetoed the resolution from more than 100 countries calling for a humanitarian ceasefire, while the weaselly UK abstains.
How long can this terrible punishment be meted out to Gaza while the rest of the world stands by?
Israel needs to feel Hamas will never be able to inflict the horrors of October 7 on its citizens again. But surely Israel will never be safe while they give their neighbours a reason to hate and a reason to support groups like Hamas.
Carpet bombing a population in between starving them is not the way to create peace. And America needs to end its military support until it changes its tactics.
Keir Starmer needs to follow Atlee example
Someone needs to have a serious word with Sir Keir Starmer.
He made headlines last week by praising Margaret Thatcher for “effecting meaningful change” in Britain and unleashing a spirit of “natural entrepreneurialism” in the country.
It was written for the Daily Telegraph, so was a conscious pitch to disillusioned conservative voters to switch to Labour next time, but it went down like a cup of cold sick among Labour backbenchers, who tend to grasp a crucifix to ward off the bad spirits conjured by mere mention of the Iron Lady’s name.
Days later he was forced to back-pedal furiously, telling a Scottish Labour conference he was “no fan boy” of Thatcher, and she had indeed done some very bad things.
Read more:
- Gavin Esler: With talk of a May election, what is Keir Starmer up to?
- Keir Starmer's spending plans will be disastrous for the north – Brian Feeney
- Sir Keir Starmer criticised for crediting Margaret Thatcher's ‘sense of purpose'
Er... yes. Like the poll tax, destroying the trade unions, privatising utilities and selling off 1.5 million council houses. That’s the problem when you praise politicians for their conviction. They are often convinced, but wrong.
Thatcher created a generation of working-class Tory voters by allowing them to buy their council homes at less than market value. But she didn’t build any more to replace them. Now the state is having to pay private landlords to house tenants in insecure and often inadequate rentals.
Jim Callaghan once confided to an aide: “There are times, perhaps once every 30 years, when there is a sea change in politics. It then doesn’t matter what you say or what you do.”
After 13 years of Tory misrule, the public want a change. But Starmer needs to define a transformative mission for Labour, not just continuing to show he’s not Corbyn.
His article also praised Tony Blair and Clement Attlee. He should have stuck with just Attlee. This non-charismatic PM led a radical government that introduced sweeping reforms to bankrupt, post-war Britain, including the expansion of the welfare state, national insurance to pay for sickness and unemployment benefits, as well as creating free health care from cradle to grave with the foundation of the NHS, and the nationalisation of major industries and public utilities.
Now there’s a role model to follow.
