(Telegraph-UK) Allison Pearson - Over the past few days, with a small group of friends and colleagues, I have helped set up British Friends of Israel and gathered support for The October Declaration. Signatories include members of the House of Lords, MPs, celebrated historians, professors and journalists like me. We all stand in support of British Jews and their right to live their lives in this country without fear. We unequivocally condemn the horrifying terrorist attacks by Hamas in Israel on 7 October and the suffering Hamas has brought on the Palestinian people. We deplore the subsequent increase in antisemitism. We ask the media, members of all political parties and the general public to call Hamas what it is - a terrorist organization - and we demand that the police use the full force of the Terrorism Act against its supporters. As TV presenter Rachel Riley said: "What has been so hurtful here at home has been the denial of the atrocities, the tearing down of posters of the abducted children, and the willingness of so many to side with Hamas....We are seeing how little some people care about Jewish lives." The destruction in Gaza is horrible, undoubtedly, but it is not in the same league of depravity as going into a kibbutz, tying the hands of children behind their backs, throwing them on a pile and setting fire to them. Hamas apologists were given airtime in which they explained that the group had "not killed any civilians." Israelis contended that the denial of the Oct. 7 massacre, its rapid downplaying by the media, amounted to "Holocaust denial in real time."
2023-10-24 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive