Israeli government official refuses to apologise for aid worker deaths Interview with Channel 4’s Guru-Murthy gets heated
AN ISRAELI spokesperson refused to apologise following the death of seven aid workers in Gaza as international condemnation of the incident grows.
Three British nationals were among those killed in an airstrike on a World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity convoy in Gaza on Monday.
Humza Yousaf has already called for immediate action from the UK Government after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the workers were killed by an “unintended strike” by Israeli forces.
During an interview with Channel 4, Israeli spokesperson David Mencer was asked if the Israeli government would apologise to the families of those killed.
He replied that “all of us have expressed grief” and told presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy there was “no point attacking me” when the host interjected to ask if the government would apologise.
Mencer continued: “We have expressed grief about this operation but we need to find out exactly what has happened.
“The prime minister as he came out of hospital today, the defence minister and minister Gallant have all expressed grief.”
Guru-Murthy then pushed the spokesperson on the fact it had already been said the attack was a “mistake” although Mencer continued to refuse to apologise.
He added that the role of bringing aid to “innocent Gazans, to ordinary Gazans” is “sacrosanct” and added “we’ve got no beef with the people of Gaza”.
The presenter then pointed to the fact that an official in Cyprus said on Tuesday that aid ships that arrived in Gaza this week will return carrying around 240 tons of undelivered aid after the air strike and so to say delivering aid is “sacrosanct” is untrue.
“It absolutely is sacrosanct because before this war which we didn’t want or didn’t ask for, there were about 70 aid trucks of food alone going into Gaza,” Mencer replied.
He denied that those numbers are “disputed” as the pair continued to clash over aid trucks.
Mencer continued: “At some point you’ve got to take our side over a genocidal terrorist organisation.”
Guru-Murthy then asked if the death of the “196 other workers who have been killed in Israeli strikes” would be investigated in the same way.
“Every civilian death is a catastrophe but the point of this whole operation is to focus on Hamas and to get our hostages out,” Mencer said.
He continued to say the Israeli government was trying to get aid to “the people that need it” but that it “was trying to get to Hamas to return to peace”.
Asked separately if Israel bombed the Iranian consulate in Syria which resulted in the death of seven military advisers, Mencer replied: “I’ve got no comment on that but what I can share with you is that Daniel Hagari (IDF spokesperson) said quite clearly that it wasn’t a civilian embassy, it was a military base for Al Quds.
“That was a military base for the Al Quds force.
“Iran unfortunately once again trying to destabilise this region, not for the good of the Palestinian people, not for the good of the Arab world at large but just to destabilise this region.”