'Conference, I know you will all be appalled by the shocking situation and events in Israel, where over a thousand people, including at least ten British citizens, are feared to have lost their lives. I would be grateful now to remember all the victims and sympathy with their bereaved. If you could join us in a moment's silence.' - https://nitter.net/UKLabour/status/1711462904803799458#m
That was tweeted out on October 9th on the Labour party account with the caption: 'Today, Labour Conference held a moment of silence for all those who have lost their lives as a result of the horrific terrorist attacks on Israel.' Clearly they are only referring to casualties in Israel despite mass airstrikes on Gaza starting on the first day of the conflict, October 7th - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war#Airstrikes_in_the_Gaza_Strip Even if you credit them with an implied reference to Palestinians with the 'all those who have lost their lives' and Rayner's 'all the victims', Israel is cleared of responsibility for this by the follow-up that pins the blame squarely on Hamas and its 'horrific terrorist attacks'. The 'over a thousand' figure does at least seem to include Palestinian losses - possibly she got it from this graun article on Oct 8th: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/08/israel-gaza-hamas-attack-netanyahu-warns-of-long-and-difficult-war - but this was not made explicit, and I doubt she was even thinking of them when using the word 'people'. The only reference to the conflict on her soulless twitter account was an Oct 7th retweet of David Lammy's outrage reflex:
'Utterly appalled by the news from Israel. There can be no justification for terrorism. We condemn Hamas’ attacks unequivocally and stand in solidarity with Israel at this terrible time.' - https://nitter.net/angelarayner https://nitter.net/DavidLammy/status/1710570750434750836#m
It recalls Derrick Jensen's fourth premise to the book 'Endgame':
'Civilization is based on a clearly defined and widely accepted yet often unarticulated hierarchy. Violence done by those higher on the hierarchy to those lower is nearly always invisible, that is, unnoticed. When it is noticed, it is fully rationalized. Violence done by those lower on the hierarchy to those higher is unthinkable, and when it does occur is regarded with shock, horror, and the fetishization of the victims.' - https://derrickjensen.org/endgame/premises/
cheers/jeers,
Ian
Tell your story; Ask a question; Interpret generously
http://storybythethroat.wordpress.com/tell-ask-listen/
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