Israel's popularity dives

Britons like Israel better only than North Korea, Haaretz poll finds
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.640016
According to a report in Haaretz, 1 February,  35 percent of Britons name Israel as their least favourite non-European country, a worse score than Iran's. British
citizens think worse of Israel than they do about any other non-European
country except for North Korea, a British survey published this week found.
http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/field/field_document/20150129YouGovRaines.pdf?dm_i=1TY5,34ZC7,BHZIRQ,B8VH2,1
Answering the question "Which of the following do you feel especially
unfavourable toward?" 35 percent named Israel – scoring two points worse
than Iran, the poll found. With 47 percent, North Korea won the worst
score, the Chathan House-YouGov poll found. Israel's score, a rise of 18
points since the last poll was published in 2012, may have been due to last
summer's attack on Gaza and the civilian death toll it exacted
from the Palestinians, the report suggested.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.640016

Westminster 'recognises' Palestinian state

MPs have voted in favour of recognising Palestine as a state alongside Israel, although the government is not bound to do anything as a result of the vote, which is widely held to be 'symbolic'.

The House of Commons backed the move "as a contribution to securing a negotiated two-state solution" - although less than half of MPs took part in the vote.

The result, 274 to 12, may be symbolic but it could have international implications, as the UK played such a major role in the creation of Israel and the subsequent Nakba.

Government ministers abstained on the vote, on a motion put forward by Labour MP Grahame Morris and amended by former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who has a record of equivocation.

Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood said Britain reserved the right to recognise Palestine when it is ‘appropriate for the peace process’; but any delay in following this decision with any action, at least the ending of arms trade with the Israeli regime and a public declaration ofwillingness to open diplomatic relations with Palestine, might encourage a short-term increase in illegal Israeli colonisation and ‘settler’ aggression as a defence reaction.

In 2012 the UN General Assembly voted to upgrade the Palestinians' status to that of "non-member observer state".

The assembly voted 138 to nine in favour, with 41 nations - including the UK - abstaining.

Mr Morris told MPs that recognising Palestine as a state would be a ‘symbolically important’ step towards peace, saying relations between Israelis and Palestinians were "stuck at an impasse’.

Current UK government policy, as set out by former Foreign Secretary William Hague, is that it ‘reserves the right to recognise a Palestinian state bilaterally at the moment of our choosing and when it can best help bring about peace’.

The full motion stated: ‘That this House believes that the Government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel as a contribution to securing a negotiated two state solution.’

Palestinian Christians speak out

Newt Gingrich, the eminince gris of Washington whose name and opinions could feasibly have been invented by, say, Evelyn Waugh or Joseph Heller, has claimed that the Palestinians are an invented people. Well - the same charge could be levelled at any nationality; but the venerable Palestinian Christians have their own answer.

Palestine - ancient but the newest nation yet?

Over 120 countries have endorsed Palestine's right to be recognised by the UN as a legitimate nation, with key countries such as the USA abstaining. Much of Europe is yet to join the group too. here is a PETITION you can sign to push this forward.

Dave and the Pirates

David Cameron gave a strong message of support for Israel this week, telling 1100 guests at a dinner given by the Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity, that after “more than 100 rockets had been fired into Israel from Gaza in one year”, the country had been "within its rights to search vessels bringing cargo into Gaza".

It was a reversal of his remarks in Turkey last July following the attack on the Mavi Marmara Flotilla, when he described Israel's action as "completely unacceptable." He is a career politician, and if you do not like his principles, he has others.

He lightly skipped over the fact that the people of Gaza are imprisoned and are daily bombed and shot at, with nowhere to run, warning that "some people try to judge the Israeli government by a higher code than they would apply to their own government."

Referring to his own Jewish ancestry - his great-great-grandfather, Emile Levita, was a German Jewish banker - the prime minister finished by conflating Judaism and Israel, adding weight to the anti-semitic/antiZionist mess and unequivocally turning his back on Palestine: "With me you have a Prime Minister whose belief in Israel is indestructible. I will always be a strong defender of the Jewish people, an advocate of the state of Israel, and I will never rest while the Jewish community in Britain is under threat." He did not specify which Jewish community he was so determined to be vigilant about; neither did he mention what the 'threat' might consist of.

Full story : The Jewish Chronicle -

http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/46012/cameron-israel-within-its-rights-search-gaza-ships