UK/US helping Israel get away with murder

Thanks to Bat for sending me this link. The Socialist Worker this week has a report on how the Foreign Office is refusing to co-operate with the BBC over the case of Iain Hook who was killed by an Israeli soldier whilst working for UNRWA in Jenin in November 2002.

Last week the foreign office flatly refused to release the information it holds on Iain’s death, saying this could damage relations with Israel.

According to the report Hook was shot in the back. An inquest has yet to take place and it seems the UK government is none to keen to get one started. What could an inquest tell us?

The circumstances in which Iain was killed were quite straightforward. He was shot in the back after he had been on the phone to the Israelis for several hours trying to get his people safely out of the UNRWA compound. The Israelis claimed Palestinian fighters were in the compound. This was never the case. An Israeli soldier decided he was going to shoot Iain.

So it could tell us that Iain Hook was murdered.

Now why doesn't our government want us to know that Iain Hook was murdered (the one or two of us who don't know, that is)? Sophie Hurndall, the sister of Tom Hurndall, another victim of an Israeli murder, offers this as an explanation of why not only the British but also the US government doesn't like to pry into Israel's campaign of murder of witnesses to its on-going war crimes:

The US and British governments have not gone out of their way, even though these cases have involved their citizens, to pressurise Israel to do what is right. There are hidden dynamics in the relationships between these countries. But the very least the US and Britain can do is stand up and demand an inquiry into the deaths of their citizens.

Palestinians are dying in similar circumstances every day. We had to campaign for six months on the TV and in the papers before Israel admitted Tom hadn’t been armed or been shooting at them. The BBC case just adds to the deeply shocking state of affairs.