Dear Liberal Party of Canada,

Whatever one thinks of the Israel/Palestine "conflict" or Hamas or whether Israel is a democracy, we have one simple question: when will you speak out against Israel’s indiscriminate killing of hundreds of civilians, including over 200 children?

The Liberal Party statement is so detached from the reality of what is taking place in Gaza right now that we have to wonder whether perhaps the second half of the statement got lost somewhere.

Four boys playing soccer on the beach, three kids feeding birds on a roof, and over 200 more; murdered for the sole crime of being Palestinian children. And while the Liberal party's public statement goes to great length to criticize Hamas for targeting civilians, it is entirely silent on Israel's killing of Palestinian children or civilians in general.

The Liberal Party statement fails to point out that it was the Netanyahu government that instigated this "conflict" in the first place.

The statement ignores the fact that nearly all of the people killed have been Palestinian, and 80 per cent of them have been civilians. There is no mention of how many have been killed (300 at the time of the statement, over 1,000 now) or who killed them (hint: it's Israel).

While condemning Hamas for rejecting Egypt's ceasefire proposal, which is a debatable point in itself, the Liberal Party statement makes no mention of Hamas' proposal for a ten-year ceasefire, which Israel has ignored. The statement entirely fails to acknowledge the ceasefire proposal was a manipulative PR exercise by Israel with the support of Egypt's dictatorship.

There is no mention of the fact that when there have been ceasefires in the past, it's Israel that has violated them. The Liberal statement also totally ignores the fact that the Egyptian dictatorship is not a neutral third party, as it is enforcing the illegal blockade of Gaza along the Southern border.

The statement commends Israel for "its commitment to peace" while Israel is in the process of massacring hundreds of civilians, including bombing children, schools, hospitals, and UN shelters.

The statement fails to mention that what Israel is doing is arguably "incremental genocide," as leading Israeli intellectual Illan Pappe has articulated. Nor does it mention that at the same time some in the Israeli government are explicitly inciting genocide.

The statement calls on Hamas to stop its rocket attacks but doesn't call on Israel to stop massacring civilians. It actually doesn't call on Israel to do anything.

This is an abject failure of leadership. If the Liberal Party is serious about being an alternative to Harper's Conservatives, it must actually take different positions, such as condemning war crimes instead of supporting them. Until the Liberal party changes its position on Israel's massacre in Gaza, it's incredibly difficult to see a difference between the Liberals and the Conservatives on human rights and international law.

With hope for justice and peace,

Independent Jewish Voices – Canada