Israel’s UK Ambassador, Tzipi Hotovely, has caused a major storm after she dismissed outright any suggestion of a two state solution to resolve Israel Palestinian crisis. In a controversial interview on Sky news with political journalist Mark Austin, she was asked if her vision for the future included a two-state solution, she emphatically replied ‘absolutely no’. She said:
‘I think its about time for the world to realise that the Oslo paradigm failed on the 7th October and we need to build a new one and in order to build a new one’
When asked if the new plan would involve a two-state solution she replied:
‘I think the biggest question is, what type of Palestinians are on the other side. The answer is absolutely no’
Clearly surprised by the answer, Mark Austin then asked the Ambassador:
How can there be peace? Without offering a state to Palestine, how can there be peace in Israel? Is the two-state solution dead?
Israeli Ambassador accuses reporter of being obsessed with the two-state solution
Unperturbed Ambassador, Tzipi Hotovely, then responded by emphatically stating:
‘Israel knows today and the world should know now, the reason the Oslo accords failed is because the Palestinians never wanted to have a state next to Israel. They want to have a state from the river to the sea….Why are you obsessed with the formula that never worked, that created these radical people in the other side? Why are you obsessed with that?’
The UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, later responded to the Israeli Ambassador’s comments by saying:
‘Our long standing position remains that the two-state solution, is the right outcome here and more immediately, what’s going on is incredibly concerning. Consistently, far too many innocent people have lost their lives. No one wants this conflict to go on for a moment longer than is necessary. Of course Israel has a right to defend itself from an appalling terrorist attack that it suffered, but as I have said to Prime Minister Netanyahu just last week, Israel must take every available precaution to protect innocent civilian lives. We are doing a lot in the Uk about getting more aid into Gaza. We’ve been a leader in that. We continue to press for more access to get more support to the people who need it and we’ll continue to support calls for a sustainable ceasefire – where hostages are released and more aid can get in’
US President, Joe Biden admits that Israeli Minister Ben Gvir and his party are determined to carry out ‘indiscriminate bombing’ on all Palestinians
The controversial admission by the UK Israeli Ambassador, has been assumed to be reflective of current Israeli government policy, which is totally at odds with the all international actors including the US and the UK. The timing of the admission was particularly poignant as it was made just days after US President, Joe Biden included a statement in his campaign speech at a US event, during which he openly admitted that Israel was carrying out ‘indiscriminate bombing’ of the civilian population of Gaza. In that speech, Biden added that Ben Gvir, the far-right National Security Minister of Israel and other members of his group within the coalition government, clearly intended to seek retribution against Palestinians and to engage in collective punishment of all Palestinians, including women and children. He said:
‘Ben-Gvir and company and the new folks, they… They not only want to have retribution, which they should for what the Palestinians—Hamas—did, but against all Palestinians’
Remarkably, despite openly recognising that Israel was in breach of international law and the Geneva Conventions, Joe Biden, reiterated his continued commitment to unconditional funding and arming of the Israeli military.
Days later at a press conference on Wednesday, State Department Spokesperson, Mathew Millar, attempted to wash over the US President’s comments on Israel’s ‘indiscriminate bombing’, when asked, he declared:
‘We have not made a formal determination to that question’
In the same press briefing, the US National Security Council Spokesman, John Kirby, responded to the same issue by saying:
‘We know they’ve stated their intent to reduce civilian casualties. And they have acted on that … by publishing a map online… There is a clear intent by the Israelis and attempt that they have admitted to publicly that they are doing everything they can to reduce civilian casualties… We’re going to continue to support them… They have every right to defend themselves’
US’s unrelenting support for Israel was again made clear at Tuesday’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), vote in respect of a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in war-torn Gaza. The vote saw overwhelming support for the ceasefire, with 153 out of the 193 member Assembly, voting to support the resolution. 23 member states including the UK, abstained and only 10 voted against, including Israel and the United States.
Staff walk-out and spontaneous protest outside RSA in Westminster, after Israeli Ambassador appears during fundraiser for Israel
No sooner had the Israeli Ambassador left the Sky studios, then she controversially appeared at a fundraiser in Westminster at the Royal Society of Arts to raise money for Israel. Staff in the building staged an immediate walk-out as they were not informed in advance of the event and felt unable to participate on a mater of principals. There was a spontaneous gathering of protesters outside the building, where pro-Palestinian demonstrators chanted ‘shame on you’ as they waved Palestinian flags.
