Protesters portrayed as “rioters”, but it’s heroic to resist Israel’s occupation

Israel and its supporters blamed the deaths on Monday on Palestinians. They demonised the Palestinians for resisting the occupation.

Israel’s ambassador to Britain Mark Regev said on Tuesday that Palestinians were killed for approaching the border fence.

“You had some 40,000 people involved in violent riots on our border,” he said.

He added, “The people of Gaza live a very difficult life because they live in a prison controlled by Hamas.”

Disgracefully some Labour Party members lined up with Israel to attack the Palestinians.

In a tweet that has since been deleted Labour Friends of Israel said, “Hamas must accept responsibility” for Monday’s events.

Border

The group repeated the Israeli claim that the protests were “cover to attack Israeli border communities”.

Labour MP John Woodcock said he was “deeply troubled” by those “who simply condemn Israel without mentioning Hamas’ role”.

All of this ignores the fact that Palestinians in Gaza have endured a siege imposed by Israel for more than a decade. The siege began after resistance group Hamas won democratic Palestinian elections.

That siege is enforced by one of the largest militaries in the world—heavily funded by the US and Britain. That some Palestinians tried to break out of the siege is nothing short of heroic.

Blaming Palestinians for the deaths in Gaza means lining up with the oppressor against the oppressed.

US shares Israeli ‘values’

Israel’s backer, the US, intervened at the United Nations to block an investigation into the killings on Monday.

Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner said Palestinian protesters were “part of the problem and not part of the solution”.

He was speaking in Jerusalem to open the US embassy on Monday.

He also praised Israel’s human rights record and values, saying they are “the same values that the US cherishes”.

And as Israeli troops gunned down Palestinian protesters, Kushner declared that it is possible for “both sides” to “live in peace, safe from danger, free from fear”.

Kushner has led Trump’s push for the “ultimate deal” in Palestine.

This would force the Palestinian Authority to let Israel annexe huge illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Kushner was the co-director of the Charles and Sheryl Kushner Foundation when it donated almost £43,000 to West Bank settlement-building projects between 2006 and 2015.