An Open Letter to Prime Minister Rt. Hon. David Cameron
An Open Letter to Prime Minister Rt. Hon. David Cameron

Dear Prime Minister,

Re: Export Embargo of arms and components to Israel.

One was astonished that your Government has decided to impose an arms/component embargo on exports to Israel during the Gaza Operation and should like to express my contempt for such a myopic decision.

Rockets and mortars fired from the Gaza enclave in Israel have and are currently being aimed at civilians and major infrastructure locations. Israel is a small country with only one major airport, two major power plants, two oil refineries, several desalination plants and seven major hospitals. Any major damage to such infrastructure would bring the country to a halt, enabling its enemies to invade from all points of the compass, by land, sea and air.

As such, the arms and components being embargoed are required for defensive measures. Thus, the decision you took is totally misguided, one-sided and lacks morals and ethics. It is obviously based on the one-sided reports filed by the international media, who, true to form when it concerns Jewish lives, have completely ignored the situation within Israel and particularly the Jewish communities adjacent to the Gaza area.

In contrst, the UK media, including the state sponsored BBC, have concentrated with scanning electron microscope accuracy to bring details of the situation in Gaza to the forefront of public knowledge resulting from the recent Israeli operations to stop the rocket and mortar attacks being promulgated by Islamic Arabic groups located in Gaza.

This is a poisonous position when so-called impartial media resort to such vulgar tactics. It has now become clear that some international reporters, albeit not from the UK, having left the area, are disclosing that they were prevented by Hamas and Islamic Jihad from reporting on the true conditions of those who hide and operate their weaponry against Israeli civilians in locations in Gaza from homes, hospitals to UNWRA and possibly ICRC facilities where they are deliberately prepared to sacrifice the lives of civilian population of Gaza to protect their barbarism.   

Several days ago it was announced that over 3500 Israeli civilians had been treated in hospital as a result of the rocket fire from Gaza, but this appears not to concern HM government. This information together with that of collateral damage in Israel has never been mentioned in full by the media in the UK.

It is understood, you together with the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Secretary Vince Cable made the decision based on the lobbying efforts of the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and the pressure of the UK biased, one sided reporting of the UK media to enrage public opinion against Israel (the only human democracy in the whole of the Near East).

The CAAT is on record following the decision of stating “The public is rightfully shocked by the bombardment that has been taking place and the UK needs to take responsibility by revoking all current licences. It should announce a full embargo on all arms sales to Israel as well as an end to all military-industrial collaboration with Israel” - which indeed it has not said about any other country which the UK supplies arms to who are not democracies, still operate with racial, gender discrimination and promulgate verbal warfare.

Furthermore, within the UK are a large vocal minority of immigrants who rather than protest against the inhumane regimes of their countries of origin have come to these shores and take the opportunity to show basic religious prejudice and hatred against both the Jewish State and  Jews dwelling in the Diaspora – as you said in your recent article in the Sunday Telegraph they have a poisonous ideology and by taking a myopic view on the Gaza conflict the UK has risen to their bait and decided to ban exports of arms and their components to Israel.

One well recollects that the conservative government of Heath in 1973 placed an arms embargo on spares already paid for the tanks Israel had previously purchased from the UK. In addition, the exports of children’s gas masks to Israel were banned, as confirmed in 1989 from Lynda Chalker, then a Minister of State of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, explained they could be used for offensive purposes. Sheer hypocrisy by HM government, which is still going on today.

Clearly, you have forgotten your recent visit to Israel when you stated you were proud of your Jewish ancestry.
HM government permits the exports of fighter aircraft, tanks, armaments, ammunition, naval vessels, rockets, missiles etc on the grounds they are defensive weapons only, to Israel’s neighbours ranging from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Gulf States, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq etc, most of whom do not even recognise the Jewish state. There is no such item as a defensive weapon that cannot be used as an offensive weapon. Indeed, such material has made its way into the hands of terrorist organisations in Gaza, Syria, Libya and is used by them for offensive purposes.

Under the circumstances it is incumbent upon you to elucidate the reasons for this embargo, given that most of its information used to make the decision emerges from the anti Israel biased reporting by the international media, whose embedded journalists in Gaza enclave are afraid to file neutral reports under the threat of death by the Gaza terrorist organisations, apart from their own perceived anti Israel considerations.

Clearly, you have forgotten your recent visit to Israel when you stated you were proud of your Jewish ancestry. Perhaps it is time to recollect what your forbearers went through in the pogroms of Eastern Europe when they were unable to defend themselves. Now attempt to relate why the same anti-Semitic prejudices are now emerging in the UK when the Jewish State defends itself from those who proclaim they wish to annihilate the Jews in Israel. 

Israel and the Jewish people worldwide are now being treated as the scapegoats for the world’s ills and held responsible for occurrences beyond their involvement.

Significantly, England has the unique distinction of being the first country in the world to expel its Jewish population. In 1290 the insignificant Jewish Community was expelled, penniless because prior to their expulsion their assets were seized by the Crown. Since that period, even after the Resettlement of Jews in England in 1656, the Crown and HM government have never even offered to compensate for these seized assets.

Moreover, the vast majority of the English towns from which the Jews were expelled don’t acknowledge that there was a Jewish presence and have failed to erect plaques in the areas where Jews lived.

It is ironic, that this precedent has been followed by numerous Arab countries in the expulsion of their Jewish communities in the past 65 years.

Furthermore, in any conflict civilians are permitted to move away from the areas under attack but in this case the terrorist organisations deliberately prevent such movement and the adjoining Arab state, Egypt, refuses to permit these people to enter into Sinai and in the past six weeks no attempt has been made by the international community, which has the necessary resources, to arrange sea evacuation, but is prepared to permit Hamas and Islamic Jihad to sacrifice the inhabitants of Gaza and then blame Israel. What hypocrisy!

Original sent to PM Cameron on 15 August 2014 – updated 26 August 2014. Awaiting response.