62% of Britons believe Israel is guilty of war crimes
Noel Canard
Posts: 562 Forum Member
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A new YouGov survey has shown that 62% of the British public believe that the Israeli government is committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
The survey also showed that even more Britions (65%) believed militant group Hamas to be guilty of war crimes in comparison with Israel.
However, more surprising is the number of Britons who believe Israel to be committing war crimes given other western attitudes towards the country. For example, in the US, a Pew Research poll showed that Americans sympathise with Israel nearly four times as much as they do with Palestinians during the current crisis.
As international opinion begins to turn against Israel, tens of thousands have taken to the streets of London to protest against the ongoing Gaza conflict. Other marches have taken place across the world in New York, Paris and even Tel Aviv.
In his weekly column for the Sunday Mirror, former British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott also described Israel's actions in Gaza as a "war crime" which is "brutally disproportionate and so grossly indiscriminate."
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/gaza-crisis-62-britons-believe-israel-guilty-war-crimes-1459013
I'm not surprised at that percentage to be honest.
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Probably something to the tune of show me the money.
Apparently the Americans have agreed to resupply the Israelis with ammunition as they are running out. Wonder what we sell them?
He only got the job because he was mates with Bush, in the same way his family will get jobs in politics and other top industries due to their parents. I guess it's who you know and who you are related to that matters.
Why someone should get rich due to having been PM I don't know, its supposed to be a public service. They could ban ex PM's cashing in but who would have to approve that law, I know the PM.
The percentages are interesting because in the world statistics on anti-semitism - which are shocking - Britain and the United States are unsurprisingly among the lowest - ie most decent - at 8% and 9%. A fourfold difference on the current Israeli actions is therefore really at odds and I think it represents a political difference. The US is more inclined to believe that anything is alright as long as it aligns with its political outlook.
I am concerned about Netanyahu's impacts on ordinary Jewish folk in Europe. The people with power - and at only 0.19% of the world's population they have huge amounts of it which it could be argued isn't always helpful - can stand up for themselves. As for the average person, well, I have never put up with discrimination towards anyone at that level. It plays in to the hands of those with broad agendas that are beyond the pale.
Israel has a history of very some nasty people being in charge of it. The people who set it up and their descendents. Did you know that during during the the period of the british Palestine mandate (1945-48) over 900 british servicemen, officials and policemen were killed?
http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Databases/Palestine/index.html
Those responsible never faced justice.
Not many do know as our government and media never talk about it.
None of them seem to report the humanitarian efforts of the IDF. The field hospital set-up which is staffed with doctors saving lives.
All they report is the tragedy of war and none of moments when IDF are saving Palestinian lives.
People seem to believe what they see and take it as fact.
65% believe Hamas are guilty of war crimes according to your link.
Didn't they hold a protest in the Blackwell tunnel or something?
Not me, I live in the north and am white and an atheist.
Indeed, more people people think Hamas are guilty of war crimes than Israel looking at that survey breakdown from YouGov.
A case of an article ignoring the actual findings of a survey because it doesn't match their poltical agenda.
In what way has Britain goton involved in this in a big way on this latest flare up?
Cameron could do a lot more though as could other EU countries in that israel will not get a free pass to do what it likes without sanctions if they carry on the way they have been this century especially.
On the wider subject, I noticed public opinion turning against israel considerably during israel's bombing of Lebanon in 2006 when they decided to "send Lebanon back 20 years"!
No, I didn't know the grim detail. Thank you for the link. It is sad to think how those people lost their lives in war with minimal appreciation for their efforts. While populations in democracies are responsible for who they elect, the extent to which they have real choice is often questionable. The alternatives offered to them can be bad and bad in any half-reasonable person's view. That is why I oppose ideas about guilt (voters) by association (with leaders).
There are difficult areas - sport, culture - in which the largely apolitical engage with others and carry the "badge" of their country. I have stuck my neck out at cultural events in the past where leftish crowds have been extremely unwelcoming on the basis that those people were from Israel. That is, when others have walked out, I have stood with the few. Almost the token non Jew. Ironically it was at those points that they made an apology for their own Government, along with a wish not to be associated with it. I don't quite know what is to be done when even I would find that difficult to do currently. My opinion has changed this week and not for the better, especially as 95% of Israelis support the action, but my instinct will always be for engagement with all people at levels below politics.
Groups such as the Stern Gang and Irgun Zvai Leumi attacked the British that culminated in the destruction of the British military headquarters in Palestine – the King David Hotel. Seemingly unable to influence events in Palestine, the British looked for a way out.
In 1947, the newly formed United Nations accepted the idea to partition Palestine into a zone for the Jews (Israel) and a zone for the Arabs (Palestine). With this United Nations proposal, the British withdrew from the region on May 14th 1948. Almost immediately, Israel was attacked by Arab nations that surrounded in a war that lasted from May 1948 to January 1949. Palestinian Arabs refused to recognise Israel and it became the turn of the Israeli government itself to suffer from terrorist attacks when fedayeen (fanatics) from the Palestinian Arabs community attacked Israel. Such attacks later became more organised with the creation of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). To the Palestinian Arabs, the area the Jews call Israel, will always be Palestine. To the Jews it is Israel. There have been very few years of peace in the region since 1948.
Source: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/palestine_1918_to_1948.htm
how did it ignore the findings? it shows them quite clearly in the article, yes a massive 3% difference in opinion, hardly more than a statistically significant amount.
I would guess that the headline focused on the 62% belief in Israelie war crimes because that figure is surprising given how little anti-semitism there is in the UK
a case of someone ignoring actuality because it doesn't match their political agenda methinks.
Compared to Blair's war crimes the Israelis are amateurs.
100,000 plus civilians died in Iraq thanks to his illegal war - including thousands of women and kids.
Lets just say us Brits are a tad hypocritical when it comes to war crimes - we re-elected Blair in 2005!