Redressing the balance

I have just done a short interview on BBC 24 TV News, about the tragic events in the Middle East today. As always with such events, there has been somewhat of a one-sided view that has emanated from sections of the media.

Like any human being, I mourn the tragic loss of life and the injuries sustained by those on the ship - including the Israeli Navy Officers. I also believe that the Israeli authorities should ensure that the UK Foreign Office has full access to any British citizens caught up in the affair. An impartial independent inquiry will help to understand exactly what really occurred.

However, it is important to set out some important facts:

• The Israeli Navy offered the Flotilla the chance to unload in Ashdod, which was refused;
• When the Israeli navy boarded the ship, they were attacked by individuals with a range of weapons;
• The Flotilla was organised by the Islamist group IHH - a body that has close ties to extreme Islamists and is part of the global Jihad movement;
• A million tonnes of humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza from Israel from January 2009 to May 2010;
• Over the past two years Hamas have taken part in countless attacks on aid shipments into Gaza, including the hijacking of aid convoys for the use of Hamas fighters rather than Gaza citizens.
• Gaza's border includes Egypt as well as Israel. Egypt mounts a full blockade against Gaza not allowing any aid trucks through at all. Yet no one complains about this.
  
  

My final point is this: If a ship had entered British waters, insisted on docking anywhere, and had refused to stop, the British Navy would have boarded it in moments. This wasn't in Britain, but on the waters outside Gaza, which is governed by the Hamas Terrorist organisation. For years, Hamas have smuggled millions of dollars of weaponry (from Iran) into the Gaza strip to be used in attacks against Israel. Over 6,000 missiles have been fired from Gaza onto Israeli towns, since the unilateral Israeli withdrawal in 2004.

P.S. You can read more details HERE.

P.P.S. The pictures shows me with David Amess MP in the Israeli Town of Sderot (on the Gaza border) in 2009. We are holding the remains of missiles, fired from Gaza onto Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

by Robert Halfon - www.roberthalfon.blogspot.com

A Passover Amendment

I am reliably informed by Cllr. Andrew Johnson - who is an archaeologist, amongst many other attributes - that the Passover dinner commemorates the Jews fleeing from bondage in Egypt, 3,500 years ago, rather than the 3,000 that I had written in my previous posting last night.

According to Andrew, most scholars date the Exodus to about mid-15th Century BCE.

The Jerusalem Post newspaper, has a fascinating article on this HERE.

I have never been good at Maths!!