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

In a resurfaced speech from 2009, former UK MP Sir Gerald Kaufman criticises Israel's military actions in Gaza, referring to the 2008-2009 Gaza Massacre, Israel’s three-week military offensive against the Gaza Strip that killed almost 1,400 Palestinians. Kaufman, who said he was brought up ‘as an Orthodox Jew and a Zionist’ and whose grandmother was shot dead by Nazis in Stachow, said, ‘my grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza.’ The late MP’s words from 15 years ago still ring true today as Israel continues its relentless war on Gaza, so far killing over 30,000 Palestinians and displacing millions. ‘The present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploit the continuing guilt among gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians. The implication is that Jewish lives are precious, but the lives of Palestinians do not count,’ he said.