Preston Council is flying the Palestinian flag over the Town Hall, from 25th – 28th July.
The President of St. Annes Synagogue has written the following letter to the Council.
I write on behalf of St Anne’s Hebrew Congregation of which I am President.
I wish to protest against the decision by the City Council to fly a Palestinian flag over the Town Hall.
The situation in Gaza is extremely complex and councillors are most unlikely to be in a position to take a political stance about something which is happening thousands of miles away and where they are unlikely to have an appreciation of all the facts.
Israel has suffered years of rocket fire and other terrorist attacks and has since 2012 restrained itself from responding by attacking the rocket sites and tunnels in Gaza which are the source of these attacks.
Only very recently our Prime Minister has defended Israel’s right to respond. It is well known that Hamas uses the civilian population of Gaza to act as human shields, making it impossible for civilian casualties to be avoided.
No nation on earth would be expected to turn the other cheek and not defend its citizens from continuous rocket fire targeted at civilian populations.
By offering support to the Palestinian people, the Council’s action is handing Hamas a propaganda victory. This to a terrorist organisation which has close links to Al Qaeda and Isis, and whose charter is the destruction of Israel, an organisation which kills and beats its own people and respects no other religion. Is this what the City Council really wants to support? You are in effect supporting Hamas – even though the flag is the Palestinian flag and not that of Hamas.
Israel is a modern democracy with freedom of speech and allows any one of any religion to practice there. Israel wants peace and has tried to give back land for peace including returning Gaza in 2005 – since then Hamas has built up a terror infrastructure intent on killing Israelis – millions of dollars have been sent to Gaza which have largely been spent on missiles and terror tunnels.
These tunnels have been found and it is known that a mass-terror attack was planned by Hamas – using these tunnels to enter Israel and kill innocent Israelis. Supporting Hamas is supporting terror and supporting a violent, repressive regime which uses the civilian population as human shields. They shoot missiles from schools, mosques and hospitals and ensure children are next to missile launchers.
All loss of life is regrettable and Israel does everything in its power to prevent innocent civilians being killed – they send leaflets, make phone calls and fire dummy missiles as warnings. Hamas order civilians not to leave the target areas, threaten and use violence to prevent civilians leaving. Israel developed a missile system to protect its population, Hamas uses its population to protect its missiles.
While flying the Palestinian flag might not be intended as a support of Hamas, that is the subtext and that is how it will be perceived. I fail to realise how rational, intelligent people living in a democracy can show support for an oppressive, terrorist organisation intent on the destruction of another country?
I would also question why Preston City Council should take a political stance on behalf of any side to a conflict. That is not what it was elected to do.
I saw no Israeli flag being flown in support of Israel as the rockets came down on their civilians. I saw no support for either side in the Syrian conflict as hundreds of thousands of Syrians have been killed over the last few years.
I would be grateful if you would please bring this email to the attention of your Members.
Thank you for your time in reading this.
Regards
President St.Annes Hebrew Congregation