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Originally Posted by jfman
You don't really need to imagine he's actually said this on Twitter:
Horrific.
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Corbyn is horrific, yes. There’s an entire essay to be written on exactly what he means by ‘occupation’ - there are plenty on the British far left who use that word to describe Israel’s very existence, on the basis that the Israeli state is illegitimate and therefore all ‘Israelis’ are occupiers. Assuming he doesn’t think this way would be being …. generous.
Telling also that his preference is for equivocation like ‘immediate cease fire’ rather than specifically calling on his friends in Hamas to stop the very specifically war-crimey things they’re doing, release civilian hostages and return to Gaza.
An immediate cease fire does rather imply that Hamas gets to continue to occupy those Israeli settlements it has captured and to hold on to the people it has kidnapped. I wonder what reasons he might offer the Israeli government for not immediately retaking its sovereign territory by force and attempting to rescue its citizens.
As a contrast, I offer Keir Starmer’s statement, which says in part that “Labour stands firmly in support of Israel's right to defend itself, rescue hostages and protect its citizens … The indiscriminate attacks from Hamas are unjustifiable and have set back the cause of peace." He has also deliberately used the word ‘terrorism’ in relation to Hamas’ actions, a designation that not everyone on the British left would be willing to admit.