A British member of parliament was criticized Wednesday for tweeting that he would fire rockets at Israel if he lived in Palestinian territory.



“The big question is - if I lived in Gaza would I fire a rocket? - probably yes,” Liberal Democrat member of parliament David Ward tweeted.



Ward has previously been suspended from the junior party in Britain’s coalition because of remarks about Israel, according to Agence France-Press.



Some on social media called on party leader Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to suspend Ward from the Liberal Democrats, while others described the comment as an incitement to violence.

The party distanced itself from the comments and said Clegg had long called for a peaceful solution to the conflict.



“We utterly condemn David Ward’s comments, they are not representative of the Liberal Democrats,” the party said in a statement.



“The party takes this matter very seriously and will treat it as a disciplinary issue.”

Israel has waged a blistering 16-day bombardment of Gaza which has left more than 600 Palestinians and 29 Israelis killed, in an effort to stop Islamist movement Hamas from raining rockets into the country.

Israel’s Defense Forces on Monday sent out a controversial image on social media, in which the guns were pointed at Westminster.

Trying to put outsiders in their shoes, the IDF mocked up a shock image of rockets raining down on the Houses of Parliament.

Alongside the image, @IDFspokesperson tweeted: “Hamas terrorists just fired rockets at southern and central Israel. What if they were attacking your home?

At the weekend, up to 15,000 people are thought to have marched through London from Downing Street to the Israeli embassy in Kensington to protest its actions.

But the tweet prompted mostly angry reactions online:

“Oh my. You’re really getting desperate aren’t you? This would be funny if it weren’t pitiful.”

“FYI Palestine is not ur home! Go get one then we will support u defending #gaza”

“I’d probably not have colonised their homes, driven them into ghettos and shot their children.”



(With AFP)

Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 13:53 - GMT 10:53