As the anti-Israeli atmosphere in Britain intensifies by the day, Britain’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee has now called on the British government to end its policy of not talking to the extreme anti-Semitic terror group Hamas while simultaneously urging the European Union to make its relationship with Israel conditional on good behaviour, the BBC is reporting today. The report was also carried in French and English by France’s top news agency, Agence France Presse.
The cross party group headed by Labour MP Michael Gapes — a self-declared friend of Israel — said that the policy of non-engagement with Hamas was ineffective. While criticising Hamas rocket attacks, it condemned Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza as “disproportionate”, criticised the blockade of Gaza, condemned settlement growth and urged the British Foreign Office to declare openly whether it believed Israel had committed war crimes in Gaza.
The committee had recommended reaching out to “moderates” in Hamas in 2007 but said such calls now had new impetus since Britain had begun engaging with the political wing of Hezbollah earlier this year.
Moves in this direction have been widely predicted and it may only be a matter of time before recognition of Hamas by the British government becomes a reality. The ground was laid in May when British Foreign Secretary David Miliband gave a speech in Oxford in which he sought to downplay the distinction between “moderates” and “extremists”. At the time, the Foreign Office denied that this was directed at Hamas.
But, in the context of last week’s announcement of a partial arms embargo by Britain against Israel and this latest parliamentary report, it seems clear that a paradigm shift is taking place in Britain’s attitudes to the Middle East.
Though famously unenthusiastic about European integration, Britain is perhaps the heaviest hitter in the EU in terms of foreign policy. Moves in Britain to recognise Hamas would undoubtedly strengthen the hand of constituencies across Europe which advocate a harder line on Israel and a softer line on groups such as Hamas.
For a broader explanation of why things have taken such a turn in Great Britain see my op-ed in the Jerusalem Post last week which is reproduced in an entry below.
To read the full BBC article referred to above, click here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8169105.stm
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