Lord Attlee, former Labor Prime Minister, voiced anti-Israel sentiments today in the course of a Middle East debate in the House of Lords.
“We can no more support Israeli aggression than we can support Arab attack against Israel,” he said. He held Israel responsible as one of the stimuli to Arab nationalism. In a reference to the proposed summit conference, Lord objected to New York as the site of the parley. “One has a memory of past controversies, the massed press, and one of the largest Jewish communities in the world,” he stated.
Lord Stansgate, former president of the Inter Parliamentary Union, took issue with Lord Attlee, asserting that “one of the glories of British policy” was the founding of the Jewish national home. He criticized Israel’s omission from the Bagdad Pact, noting that this made her position even more difficult. Lord Silkin, a Jew, appealed for an Arab-Israel settlement and underlined Britain’s “sacred obligation” to see to it that Israel is allowed to live.
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