British Health Secretary: ‘Israel’s’ Attacks on Gaza Are Unjustifiable, Intolerable

By Staff, Agencies

British Health secretary, Wes Streeting, confirmed that “Israel’s” attacks on Gaza are “unjustifiable” and “intolerable”, expressing discomfort at images of bombs shattering the region that has been under threat by the ‘Israelis’ “for many years”.

The scale of attacks prompted the UN to announce it will “reduce its footprint” in Gaza, after an attack at one of its compounds saw one of their staff killed and five others injured.

Streeting insisted Labour had used “every diplomatic lever available” to them since they have been in power to try to bring an end to the “bloody war”, but as a UK cabinet minister he still feels “powerless”.

“It’s very frustrating, let me tell you, being a member of the cabinet the United Kingdom and still feeling powerless in the face of this appalling conflict which does nothing for 'Israelis' or Palestinians,” he said.

Speaking at a Guardian Live event, he said: “I find it soul-destroying seeing the breakdown of the ceasefire and the impact we are seeing on innocent human lives … I was looking back at some photos just this morning of a place called 'Susya' in the West Bank, which has been under threat of demolition by the 'Israelis' for many years and now is on the frontline of settler violence.”

Streeting further underlined that he found "Israel’s" decision to break the Gaza ceasefire “soul-destroying”, and insisted the attacks do not “serve in 'Israel’s' self-interest and cannot be justified as self-defence”, adding: “It has got to stop.”

The health secretary’s remarks came in a wide-ranging interview during which he reflected on the flurry of angry emails and messages he received for saying there was an “overdiagnosis” of mental illness.

While he understood why people emailed him with a strength of feeling, he stopped short of apologizing, but acknowledged: “We’ve got to handle this in a sensitive way, and I reflect on your feedback … to handle this in a sensitive way”.

Three NHS patients who were angry at his comments on young people with mental illness interrupted Streeting as he spoke at the start of the event. They shouted “your cuts will kill” and held a banner which read: “Disability cuts will kill”, as they criticized his support for the planned cuts to personal independence payments to disabled people.

Reflecting on the government’s unpopular decision to cut disability benefits and foreign aid, Streeting urged Labour’s critical friends to “cut us some slack”.

“The government’s been in for five minutes,” he said. “I know it’s hard and some choices we’ve made are unpopular but look at the scale of the challenge.”