The recent article in the Jerusalem Post, by Gilad Sharon, son of Ariel Sharon, is shocking in the extreme. Under the heading ‘A decisive conclusion is necessary’ – a title which has a deeply unpleasant historical ring – he pours forth the most hate-ridden and murderous invective:
“We need to flatten entire neighborhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn’t stop with Hiroshima – the Japanese weren’t surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too.
There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing. Then they’d really call for a ceasefire.
Were this to happen, the images from Gaza might be unpleasant – but victory would be swift, and the lives of our soldiers and civilians spared.”
The tenor is so extreme that I can almost believe that he means the Hiroshima reference to be applied literally.
From a state with a significant nuclear arsenal, quite possibly larger than Britain’s, this is not something that can be taken lightly. Israel has never formally admitted to the existence of its nuclear arsenal and no inspections of Israel’s facilities have ever been allowed. This is a situation that exists unchallenged and in parallel to the war drums beating over the possibility that Iran might be thinking of developing nuclear weapons.
And Israel appears recently to have brought to nothing the UN attempts to make progress on a WMD-free zone in the Middle East by refusing to cooperate.
This is from a country that is killing innocent civilians including babies and children, has used chemical weapons – white phosphorous – on Gaza during Operation Cast Lead almost four years ago, and has deprived people of their land and livelihoods.
Tragically, Gilad Sharon’s attitude is not just the perspective of a lone individual. One of Israel’s Deputy Prime Ministers, Eli Yishai has said: “We must blow Gaza back to the Middle Ages destroying all the infrastructure including roads & water”
Our hearts bleed for the people of Gaza. History shows that brutality and oppression cannot ultimately defeat the human spirit. I – and countless millions of people around the world – am here to say this will never happen to the people of Gaza.
Join us on Saturday 24th November: 12 noon at Downing Street; march to rally and protest at the Israeli Embassy, Kensington.
End Israel’s War on Gaza: End the Siege Now