British Ambassador-Anti-Israel Bias Is Justified

Great Britain is really nothing but a silly little has been of a nation. This is a country that has a history of cold hard cruelty. For example, after the holocaust homeless Jews refugees from the Shoah, were trying to get into the Jewish Homeland the British would catch them and they were deported to "camps" in Cyprus. This is that the Same UK that promised the land to the Jews in Lord Balfour's declaration.
In today's Jpost British Ambassador Tom Phillips says basically that Israel gets what it devervse because she is an occupying force:

Israel is regarded as occupying force'

Herb Keinon, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 10, 2007

Israel will continue to come under blistering criticism in Britain, some of it "totally unjustified," as long as "Israel is regarded as an occupying power," British Ambassador Tom Phillips said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

Asked to explain why the British public at times seemed "awful" on Israel, manifest by a hostile press and various calls to boycott Israel from different unions - the most recent coming from the journalists union - Phillips said that this was "what goes with being an occupying power."

"The one point I would make, and with some sadness, as someone here committed to Israel, believing that Israel has a right to exist in peace here, and understanding the very complex historical reason that has got Israel into a position of it being an occupier of territory with people who do not want to be Israeli, and whom Israelis don't want to give the vote - some of this will go on as long as Israel is regarded as an occupying power. It is what goes with being an occupying power.

"The only answer in the end to some of the flak, some of the flak is totally unjustified in the UK, and some is justified, but Israel is going to get a critical press as long as it is an occupying power - that is what I conclude at the end of the day," he said.

Phillips replaced Simon McDonald as ambassador in August, in the middle of the Second Lebanon War, and is on his second tour of duty in Israel. He served from 1990-1993 as the deputy head of mission at the British embassy in Tel Aviv.

Phillips said the reasons the press concentrated so much on Israel, rather than on other crisis areas such as Darfur, were "complex," and had to do partly with the fact that journalists can operate freely here, and partly with Israel's enormous symbolism.

According to the British envoy, the way the world's three great monotheistic religions come together here "creates a symbolic resonance much greater than most other conflicts." He said that "because of the meaning of this bit of real estate in so many myths, it is going to carry that weight."

Phillips, however, stressed that there is a robust relationship between the British and Israelis, with Israelis visiting Britain in large numbers, and - despite some British calls for divestment and boycott of Israel - lively commerce between the two countries, with two-way annual trade reaching $2.6 billion last year.

Regarding the current political crisis in Israel, Phillips did not agree that the political uncertainty that has followed the Winograd Committee's interim report necessarily meant that nothing could move diplomatically.

Yet, he said, "Clearly, the sooner there is a government feeling firm and secure here, a government able fully to focus on the peace process would be a major step, good news in itself." At the same time, the envoy said he was not picking up any sense from the government that it was saying "we can't possibly do the peace process until we sort out where we are on Winograd."

On the contrary, Phillips said he was hearing a "firm stance" that the government realized that the status quo with the Palestinians was "not sustainable." Phillips also rejected the idea that Olmert's political woes could lead him to take dramatic military or peace-making steps.

"I find if very hard to think that the Israeli government would cynically go to war to deflect from the political process, I don't think governments think like that," he said.

And as to whether he thought Olmert might take a huge peace gamble to try and improve his domestic political situation, he said, "My sense is that this government understands very clearly that you can't stand still, and it wants to move forward. I think our business is to be encouraging."

The full interview will appear in Friday's Post.