London witnessed massive demonstrations denouncing Israel's daily massacres in Gaza (Reuters)

There is a new trend that has emerged in the corridors of British politics, which is that the peaceful protesters against the Gaza massacres are dangerous and hateful extremists, while the defenders of those mass slaughters that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians are moderates worthy of respect from mainstream society.

With this introduction, columnist Owen Jones began his article in the British newspaper The Guardian, criticizing the conflicting positions of political elites towards the war taking place in the besieged Strip.

Jones referred to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's statement that there was a "growing consensus" that "mob rule is replacing the democratic system," a declaration that Jones believes in his article made the world turn upside down, and one has the right to ask why.

As for how this became apparent, it is significant, according to the author of the article.

While the Scottish National Party demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the British Labor Party was in a critical situation as it continued to suffer under pressure from voters opposed to the brutal war waged by Israel on the Palestinian Strip. Signs of a massive rebellion appeared within Parliament, and government ministers expressed Shadow their willingness to resign.

Collective punishment

But opposition Labor leader Keir Starmer will not accept the Scottish National Party's proposal.

Jones asked why, and he answered himself. He said that the proposal referred to the "collective punishment" practiced by Israel on the residents of Gaza in response to the attack by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on the seventh of last October.

Jones emphasized that the phrase "collective punishment" implies an admission of committing a war crime, which logically requires the British state to take action such as banning weapons and imposing sanctions on Israel.

He expressed his belief that pressure of this kind is the only realistic means that Israel's allies have to change their actions at this stage, but it has become clear that the Labor Party is not ready to move forward in this direction, and will content itself with issuing "temporary" condemnations, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu realizes are... They are merely for local consumption, and can be safely ignored.

The author of the article stated that the difference in political positions in Britain is evident in the position of the Labor Party and the Scottish National Party. While the former called for an “immediate ceasefire for humanitarian reasons,” the latter demanded an “immediate cessation of all combat operations,” but his demand did not include a reference to collective punishment.

The Guardian article touched on the discussions that took place in the House of Commons (the lower chamber of the British Parliament) regarding dealing with the Gaza war, and the attempts that included it to influence the positions of MPs, which some may see as “morally repugnant politicking, because it boils down to the Labor Party’s refusal to attribute a crime to Clearly visible collective punishment in Israel.

Of mass destruction

The writer says that, in the end, Gaza was subjected to comprehensive destruction to the extent that its character and appearance changed to the point that this could be seen from space, adding that reports indicate that hungry dogs eat decomposing corpses.

Promises to begin with, the question that arises next - in the opinion of Owen Jones - is: Who are the protesters who pose a threat?

He added that in a society ravaged by Islamophobia, a wide sector of Muslim demonstrators has become vulnerable to being targeted.

If these people pose such a danger, why are they not subject to a mass arrest campaign?

A denouncing question directed by Jones to the British authorities, pointing out that former Interior Minister Suella Braverman had instructed that Islamists were actually running the country's affairs.

However, Lee Anderson, former deputy leader of the Conservative Party, narrowed the scope of the conspiracy to London when he implied that the city's mayor was one of "Islamic sleeper cells."

The writer stressed the need for conservatives to acknowledge the spread of racist tendencies among them, but he believes that this stems from a deliberate attempt to imprint those who oppose the bombing, shooting, and starving of tens of thousands of civilians as “the real dangerous extremists.”

The Guardian article concluded that political and media institutions in Britain realize that any real accountability will strip them of their moral legitimacy, as they cannot pretend to be ignorant, as Israeli leaders and officials have publicly announced exactly what they will do, which is to starve “human animals” - as they described the Palestinians - Freeing their soldiers from “all restrictions,” holding civilians collectively responsible and considering them “Nazis,” and wiping “the Gaza Strip off the face of the earth.”

Source: Guardian