The British public thought they were done with lies, spin and disinformation from their government when they got rid of Tony Bliar (this intentional misspelling was common in Britain towards Blair's end of term, particularly since it was revealed that he wilfully lied about Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" and fabricated an intelligence folder to justify the Anglo-American war against it). Now Mr. Miliband is caught in a situation where he has to admit that he either lied to parliament or did not know what was going on in the sensitive matter of British arms trade with Israel. In both cases, many Brits would want to see him sacked, asap.
Palestinians always felt that we deserve better, more principled, courageous and upright leaders. Apparently, so do the Brits. I know, the list of other peoples in the same boat is far from short ...
In any case, this revelation means that the UK was complict in Israel's war of aggression much more directly and deeply than initially thought. Not only did it contribute to the Western diplomatic and politicl shield provided to Israel throughout the massacre and ever since to cover up and later whitewash its war crimes and crimes against humanity; it actually provided Israel with weapons that were used to perpetrate the massacre. The only way the UK can counter well-justified charges of criminal complicity in Israel's grave violations of international law is by implementing a full arms embargo against Israel.
That would be the first step in a long march that the British establishment ought to take to atone for its historic crimes against the indigenous people of Palestine.
Omar Barghouti
Revealed: British arms used in Gaza conflict
British arms were used by Israel during recent operations in Gaza, the foreign secretary has admitted.
The revelation is acutely embarrassing for David Miliband, who assured the Commons this was not the case during the fighting at the turn of the year.
During a Commons debate on January 12th this year, Mr Miliband told his Liberal Democrat counterpart: "Šwe have no evidence of any of the exports that he has pointed to being used in this operation.
"As for some of the allegations that are around - for example, in the Guardian on Friday, which the hon. gentleman did not repeat, but it might help the House if I make this point clear - there is no truth in the suggestion that those exports are used by the IDF [Israeli Defence Force] or are being used by the IDF in this operation.
"I assure him that the criteria that we use remain very strict, and they were recently examined in judicial review to confirm the way that they operate."
Today, Mr Davey mocked the foreign secretary for his mistake.
"At the time of the conflict, the foreign secretary claimed there was no evidence that recent British arms exports were used in Gaza and that export rules were robust," he said.
"This statement is effectively an admission that the British arms control system broke down on his watch."
The revelation is acutely embarrassing for David Miliband, who assured the Commons this was not the case during the fighting at the turn of the year.
During a Commons debate on January 12th this year, Mr Miliband told his Liberal Democrat counterpart: "Šwe have no evidence of any of the exports that he has pointed to being used in this operation.
"As for some of the allegations that are around - for example, in the Guardian on Friday, which the hon. gentleman did not repeat, but it might help the House if I make this point clear - there is no truth in the suggestion that those exports are used by the IDF [Israeli Defence Force] or are being used by the IDF in this operation.
"I assure him that the criteria that we use remain very strict, and they were recently examined in judicial review to confirm the way that they operate."
Today, Mr Davey mocked the foreign secretary for his mistake.
"At the time of the conflict, the foreign secretary claimed there was no evidence that recent British arms exports were used in Gaza and that export rules were robust," he said.
"This statement is effectively an admission that the British arms control system broke down on his watch."
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