LONDON, Jan 15: A British Jewish lawmaker compared the Israeli offensive in Gaza on Thursday to the Nazis who forced his family to flee from Poland.

Gerald Kaufman, a member of the Jewish Labour movement linked to Premier Gordon Brown’s ruling party, also called for an arms embargo on Israel.

“My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town and a German soldier shot her dead in her bed,” Kaufman said during a parliamentary debate on the Gaza war.

“My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza.

“The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploit the continuing guilt from gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians.”

Israel’s claim that many of the Palestinian victims were militants “was the reply of the Nazi,” he said, adding: “I suppose the Jews fighting for their lives in the Warsaw ghetto could have been dismissed as militants.” Kaufman, said Hamas was a “deeply nasty” organisation, but said it was democratically elected.

“It is time for our government to make clear to the Israeli government that its conduct and policies are unacceptable and to impose a total arms ban on Israel,” he said.—AFP

Opinion

Editorial

New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.
Ceasefire, finally
Updated 26 Mar, 2024

Ceasefire, finally

Palestinian lives matter, and a generation of orphaned Gazan children will be looking to the world community to secure justice for them.
Afghan return
26 Mar, 2024

Afghan return

FOLLOWING a controversial first repatriation phase involving ‘illegal’ Afghan refugees last November, the...
Planes and plans
26 Mar, 2024

Planes and plans

FOR the past many years, PIA has been getting little by way of good press, mostly on account of internal...