Time to distance yourself

I am writing on behalf of Justice for Palestinians Leamington Spa. We are a group of people concerned about Palestine – several of us are Jewish but we have broadened out our membership to be inclusive of people of other faiths and none.

Although there is potentially good news with the ceasefire acceptance this week, we are sure that you, like most Leamingtonians that we have spoken to during our weekly Saturday vigils in front of the town hall, will have been appalled by the numbers of civilians that Israel has killed in Gaza. Whatever view you take of who started what in this conflict we are shocked by Israel’s reckless bombing of homes, schools and hospitals – including UN buildings.

One striking thing about this conflict is how many people linked to Israel and the Jewish community in this country have been horrified by what Israel has done. The director of Yachad has emerged as a strong voice for sanity and compassion within the UK Jewish community and you will no doubt have seen the letter in the Guardian signed by dozens of Holocaust survivors and their children and grandchildren. You probably also saw that Henk Zanoli, 91, a Dutchman honoured by Israel for hiding a Jewish child during World War Two, has had six of his relatives killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza. He has shown his condemnation by handing back his medal to the state of Israel. You have yourself been rather silent during this war. We are aware that you have been a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel (as well as the Conservative Middle East Council) and have enjoyed their hospitality on trips to Israel. Looking at their website this week we have been astounded to see how much they support the carnage that Israel has been causing. As our MP we hope you will now resign from CFOI and publicly distance yourself from their stance.

Andy Smith, Marylin Dixon, Roland Straub, John Kelly, David Epstein, Clive Darling, Sue Ellworthy, David Mond, Davide Nicolini