Jewish leaders in the UK have produced their own election Manifesto spelling out what they expect from our politicians

by Stuart Littlewood
Every general election brings with it the irksome task of reading the manifestos of the political parties. Now the Board of Deputies of British Jews have launched their very own “Jewish Manifesto”.
The 40-page document is intended to persuade policy-makers and politicians to promote key aspects of Jewish life in Britain and do some big favours for the abhorrent Zionist regime in Tel Aviv www.bod.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/BoD-Manifesto.pdf .
“It will form the centerpiece of the Board’s drive to ensure that all the political parties take the concerns of Britain’s 300,000-strong Jewish community into account when setting out their own proposals for government.”
Favours we are asked to do for the Rogue State
At the heart of the Manifesto is a list of “policy asks”, some of which attempt to demonise Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran and portray them as Britain’s enemies as well as Israel’s.
Others aim to perpetuate Israeli dominance in the Holy Land at the Palestinians’ expense, like this one from the ‘Ten Commitments':
“Advocate for a
permanent, comprehensive solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
resulting in a secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state.”
The Board of Deputies explicitly state that the UK Jewish community
is committed to equality for Israel and the Palestinians, yet here they
want us to press for a “secure” Israel with Palestine only “viable”. And
that has become the mantra among Israel’s stooges in the West. We know
what it will mean on the ground, and it’s despicable.Why should the Palestinians, whose land it is, live in permanent fear and subjugation, defenceless among the shredded and disconnected remnants of their territory and not even in control of their borders? Let’s turn it round so we have “a secure Palestine alongside a viable Israeli state”. How do the Board of Deputies like the sound of that?
Here are a few more Manifesto gems…
They want restitution for private
property the Nazis stole during the Holocaust leaving many survivors
living in dire poverty and without a legacy for the descendants.
This is a very cruel injustice. But what about all the land, homes,
other property, infrastructure and natural resources the Jewish State
confiscated from the Palestinians during the Nakba and continued to
seize ever since?When will that be returned? According to the UN, last year alone Israel demolished the homes of 1,177 Palestinians in Jerusalem and West Bank (never mind the countless thousands of homes they reduced to rubble in Gaza) http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.640147.
They don’t like to see Israel boycotted.
“We urge
resistance of calls for boycotts of Israel. By their very nature, such
measures attribute blame to only one side of the conflict, and through
this stigmatisation they perpetuate a one-sided narrative.”
At the same time they want our help in boycotting Palestinians.
The Manifesto urges the British
government “to refuse to engage with Hamas politicians, officials or
supporters until the movement agrees to recognise Israel, abide by
previous diplomatic agreements, and desists from terrorist attacks”.
Are the Board of Deputies aware that Israel refuses to recognise the
Palestinian State, has failed to honour previous agreements and never
ceases its terrorist attacks? Are they also aware that the UK does not
list Hamas’s political wing as a proscribed organisation, only its
military wing – the Izz al-Din al-Qassem brigades.The boycott of Israel simply calls for non-violent measures that “should be maintained until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law by:
- Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands and dismantling the Wall
- Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and
- Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.”
Other bizarre “asks” include these:
- The Manifesto wants us to “promote awareness of the acute threats to Israeli and regional security, and encourage further security cooperation between the UK and Israel”.
- The Manifesto says the world must ensure “no backsliding towards an Iranian military nuclear capability… it is vital that Iran knows that there is a credible military option to end its pursuit of nuclear weapons if diplomacy should fail”.
These endless attempts to drive a wedge between Britain and Iran are tiresome. Israel would love to launch a war against Iran if support from the US and its EU lackeys was assured. Iran has no nuclear weapons and poses no threat to the UK. What’s more, our Iranian friends are menaced by an unrestrained nuclear-armed Israeli regime on their doorstep.
UN Security Council resolution 487, in 1981, called on Israel “urgently to place its nuclear facilities under IAEA safeguards”. Israel has defied it for 34 years. In 2009, the IAEA called on Israel to join the Non-Proliferation Treaty and open its nuclear facilities to inspection. Israel still refuses while Iran has complied.
“Years of disingenuity and obfuscation from the Iranian authorities should not be naively forgotten.”
So says the Manifesto, oblivious to the staggering hypocrisy.The “violent nature” of Hezbollah
For a long time Israel has planned to annex Lebanon’s Litani River. Hezbollah (the ‘party of God’) was formed in response to the Israelis’ 1982 invasion and occupation. An international commission concluded that Israel’s aggression was contrary to international law, the government of Israel had no valid reasons for invading Lebanon and Israel was directly or indirectly responsible for the massacres in Sabra and Shatila refugee camps, declared an act of genocide by the UN General Assembly.
So Hezbollah came into being for very good reasons. Israel began overflying Lebanese territory in 2000 after its troops vacated parts of southern Lebanon they had occupied since 1978. These flights are a constant provocation.
In 2006 Israel launched another invasion and received a bloody nose from Hezbollah. The conflict killed over six thousand people and severely damaged Lebanese infrastructure. Much of Southern Lebanon was left uninhabitable due to unexploded Israeli cluster bombs.
The Jewish Manifesto talks of Hezbollah’s “violent nature” but in the circumstances how valid is this next “ask”?
It wants Hezbollah in its entirety designated as a terrorist organisation, and asks the UK to take the lead in getting the whole EU to proscribe Hezbollah’s political wing.
Lebanon’s Cabinet has confirmed Hezbollah as an armed organisation
with the right to “liberate or recover occupied lands”. Israel routinely
breaches UN Resolution 1701 by crossing the Blue Line or violating
Lebanese airspace and still occupies the Shebaa Farms area. Hezbollah is
hardly going to disband with Israel nextdoor always poised to grab what
isn’t theirs.Why should the UK take on another of Israel’s enemies and try to weaken Lebanon’s defence against the Zionist predator?
In case we forget, the US defines terrorism as an activity that:
(i) involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life, property, or infrastructure; and
(ii) appears to be intended
- to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
- to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
- to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, kidnapping, or hostage-taking.
- The Manifesto also asks Britain to maintain an expenditure of 0.7% of GNP on overseas development.
- It urges us to “support efforts to remember and understand the Holocaust and strive to prevent any future genocide”.
The ‘Israel problem’ a Jewish family matter
Finally, this ‘hot potato':
- July 2014 was the worst month for anti-semitism on record, presumably on account of another murderous assault on Gaza by the Israeli military. “A robust political and policing response is required when criticism of the policies of a government spills over in to hatred, intimidation or violence against a religious or ethnic group” ..
Do Jewish leaders in the UK need reminding that Muslims and Christians in the Holy Land have suffered a high tide of hatred, intimidation, violence and worse for decades under Israel’s brutal occupation?
We’re told that anti-semitism is often bound up with perceptions of the political and military decisions of the Israeli government, and that Israel represents a fundamental component of Jewish identity. In that case, one would have thought, Israel’s appalling conduct – and damage to reputation – is something the global Jewish family would wish to deal with themselves.
Wise heads have warned long enough that Jews worldwide will pay the price for Israel’s crimes. Many Jews, to their great credit, have taken heed and faced up to the moral challenge, and are now fiercely critical of the Israeli regime’s behaviour.
For example, over 400 rabbis from Israel, the USA, Canada, Britain and other countries have just signed a call to Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop the practice of home demolitions. Over 400 Rabbis call on Prime Minister Netanyahu to stop administrative home demolitions
“Every year, hundreds of
Palestinian homes are demolished due to discriminatory administrative
plans created and implemented by the Israel military without significant
Palestinian influence. Palestinians are very rarely allowed to build,
even on their own land.”
That’s leadership.http://www.veteranstoday.com/2015/02/10/boycott-hamas-brand-hezbollah-terrorists-dont-trust-iran/

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