Be proud of the role Britain is playing
By Craig Whittaker MP
The events in Parliament on February 21 highlight just how emotive the debate on Israel and Gaza really is. Was it chaotic? Yes it was! I would argue however, that no more so than what we see with the debate going on within the general population.
One thing everyone agrees on though, is that the total loss of life on both sides is horrendous and the human cost intolerable. We see it everyday on our TV screens and it really is unpalatable to watch.
The level of abuse and threats MPs have received as consequence of this debate, sadly also skews the debate and we lose sight of what the objective really is here. A permanent cease fire and a level of peace restored. I mention this to highlight how emotional this debate is. Threats range from death threats to fire bombing of my good friend and colleague’s office, Mike Freer, in his largely Jewish constituency.
It is also high time that the huge amount of energy spent chasing a ‘ceasefire now’ approach is futile. Let’s say the UK does call for a ceasefire, what then? The answer is very clear. Absolutely nothing. The Israeli’s have made it very clear from words and actions, they will not be swayed by international pressure. Similarly, they live in a very different world to us where even in 2024, every one of their neighbours want to see them permanently eradicated.
We also see calls for UK to stop sending arms to Israel. Let’s say we do, what then? Absolutely
nothing. Israel spends double per head of capita on defence, than we do in the UK. They also manufacture a very large proportion of their own supplies (they export £450m per year too).
The amount they import from the UK is so marginal compared to what they produce or indeed import from other countries. The US supplies 68 per cent of Israel’s imports,
Germany 28 per cent. To put that into perspective the US has sold £120billion over the last decade, us £545m over the same period.
People also say to me (via email) that if I don’t call for a ceasefire that I am complicit to genocide.
Not only is this a complete waste of time as I’ve already explained, but it is a total waste of their emotion. Emotion and time that would be better served calling on Hamas to release the hostages, two of which are British. The tragedy here is that nobody ever mentions the British hostages.
The last time foreign powers negotiated a temporary ceasefire (Britain played a large part in this) was for hostage exchange. Both Hamas and Israel agreed, and we saw peace for a short period of time whilst Hamas and Israel exchanged hostages.
This isn’t just about the ceasefire it’s also about getting humanitarian aid through and into Gaza. There are many examples of Britain’s role whether quietly or publicly. To date this financial year the UK has provided over £87m in direct aid to Gaza with children being the priority. This is distributed via aid agencies on the ground or sometimes, as we saw recently, by air dropping supplies via the Royal Jordanian Airforce.
Whatever your stance on the method of delivery for a lasting peace, the one thing we should all be proud of is the role which Britain is playing.