What to say to your MP about the failure of the media and politicians to acknowledge the current war against Israeli Jews

Letter below sent to my MP***(see update below in the light of the outrageous government statement by Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond)

Dear XXXX

The war against Israeli civilians and the disgraceful reporting of it by the UK media

You may recall that we have communicated before about the way biased media reporting on Israel is a major factor in the increase in antisemitism in the UK.

Well, if you rely only on the UK media for information about what is happening in Israel you will be completely unaware that in the last week there has been an unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks against Jewish civilians in every city of Israel (averaging 100 per day and increasing as I write) resulting in numerous dead Jews. Because the story is 'only about dead Jews' it is not apparently considered newsworthy, despite the international significance of the events and the fact that the surge in attacks came immediately after Mahmoud Abbas (the leader of the Palestine Authority) effectively declared war against Israel's Jews at the United Nations (another fact unreported by the media).

Indeed, within hours of Abbas's speech on 1 October Palestinian terrorists aligned with Abbas's Fatah organisation jubilantly claimed responsibility for shooting and killing Eitam and Naam Henkin in front of their four young children (all under 10). Subsequent reports confirm that the attackers intended to kill the children as well but one of the attackers accidentally shot the other in the hand after killing the parents and at that point the attackers fled. None of this was reported anywhere in the British media. Nor has the media ever reported on the wild celebrations that take place through every segment of Palestinian society after Jews are killed in such terrorist attacks.

What makes the media reporting not just grossly incompetent but also clearly anti-Semitic is that while they have universally failed to report on the attacks against the Jews, they have chosen ONLY to report incidents in which the Palestinian attackers were killed in the act of committing murder. Moreover, such reports have typically led with the headline "Palestinian killed by security forces...". For example, of special significance was the attack by Palestinian terrorist Mohammed Halabi (who, in contrast to the media’s narrative of Palestinian desperation and poverty, came from a wealthy family and was a law student at Al Quds University). On 3 October Halabi decided to go to Jerusalem to kill as many Jews as he could. He stabbed Nehamia Lavi and Aharaon Benita to death with a knife in Jerusalem while other Arabs looked on and applauded. He also stabbed Benita’s wife Adele and baby. They survived, but only after Adele was slapped, spat at and laughed at by the Arab passers-by while the knife was still in her body. Halibi was eventually shot dead by security forces while attempting to shoot other Jews with a gun he stole from the dead Nehamia Lavi. All of this was captured on video, but none was reported. Instead the BBC led with the ludicrous - but completely typical - headline "Palestinian shot dead after Jerusalem attack kills two" (see http://bbcwatch.org/2015/10/03/bbc-news-flunks-headline-of-report-on-jerusal em-terror-attack/)

Put simply the media's portrayal about Israel and the Palestinians is a perfect inversion of reality. As a direct result, over the last few years the British public and politicians from all parties have effectively bought into a lie based on a false Palestinian narrative. The impact on British Jews like myself has been serious (I have previously told you some personal examples). We are subject to a barrage of anti-Semitic insults under the guise of 'anti-Zionism' and have increasingly seen 'boycotts' (often involving violent action) of anyone and anything associated with the Jews of Israel. This includes actions like the physical destruction of Jewish owned shops like Ahava and the disruption of every cultural and sporting event in which Israelis participate. But it also includes the EU labelling of goods from the so-called 'occupied territories' which, in reality, is a purely Nazi-like anti-Semitic measure, since it applies only to Jewish-owned businesses in areas such as Jerusalem - the capital of Israel.

As my MP I politely request that you raise this issue with the media authorities and also the relevant government departments. I would also like to know why nobody in Government has even so much as condemned the Palestinian terrorism or the incitement by the Palestinian Authority. This is despite the fact that the latter receives some £150 million each year from UK taxpayers - much of which goes directly to pay salaries of convicted terrorists.

Yours sincerely 

***Note this was before I heard this evening about the appalling statement by the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond in which he blamed Israel's 'occupation' and 'violence by Palestinians and Israeli settlers' for the current situation. And there are still people who think that the Conservatives and David Cameron are 'friends of Israel'. Remember Hammond also made a blood libel antisemitic statement (one of the worst ever made by a British Cabinet member) when he said that Israel wanted to spike the Iran deal because it 'wanted to maintain a permanent state of war'. Anyway, I used the online form to contact the Prime Minister to make the following complaint:

I am appalled by the Foreign Minister's statement today which largely blames Israel for the unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks against Jewish civilians in every city of Israel (averaging 100 per day and increasing as I write) resulting in numerous dead Jews. The fact that the surge in attacks came immediately after Mahmoud Abbas (the leader of the Palestine Authority) effectively declared war against Israel's Jews at the United Nations was also unreported by the media and ignored by the Government (just like the attacks against Israelis). The media have chosen ONLY to report incidents in which the Palestinian attackers were killed in the act of committing murder. Moreover, such reports have typically led with the headline "Palestinian killed by security forces...". Now the government seems to have fallen into the same BIG LIE narrative. Perhaps Hammond could also clarify or name even one 'settler' who has attacked an Arab.