Miliband: Israelis' attacks on Gaza may make things worse: Labour leader says he cannot defend ground invasion

Labour leader opens dividing line between himself and Cameron over Israel

PM has strongly defended Israel's right to launch attacks on the Gaza Strip



But Labour says the violence risks helping motivate new Hamas recruits



'I cannot explain, justify or defend the horrifying deaths of hundreds of Palestinians': Ed Miliband has come out against Israel's ground attack on Gaza

Ed Miliband has said he opposes Israeli military action in Gaza, saying it will not ‘help Israel win friends’ and could make the situation worse.

The Labour leader opened up a dividing line between himself and David Cameron by saying he could not defend the ground incursion Israel launched a week ago following Hamas rocket fire.

The Prime Minister has described the conflict as a ‘human tragedy’ and said earlier this week that he had urged Israel to try to minimise civilian casualties.

But Mr Cameron strongly defended Israel’s right to respond to attacks and condemned the refusal of Hamas – which runs Gaza – to end rocket fire and accept offers of a ceasefire brokered by Egypt.

Mr Miliband struck a different note in an interview with the Huffington Post website in Washington, saying: ‘We oppose the Israeli incursion into Gaza. I don’t think it will help win Israel friends. I don’t think this will make the situation better. I fear it will make it worse.’

He had said over the weekend: ‘As a party we oppose the further escalation of violence we have seen with Israel’s invasion of Gaza. I defend Israel’s right to defend itself against rocket attacks.

‘But I cannot explain, justify or defend the horrifying deaths of hundreds of Palestinians, including children and innocent civilians.’

Mr Miliband, who once described himself as a Jewish atheist, added in the interview that the conflict was likely to help recruit people to Hamas – the militant Islamist group which forcibly took power in Gaza in 2007 – and called on all parties to restart peace talks.

It is a shift from the position of former Labour leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who were staunch supporters of Israel using force to defend itself from attacks.



Mr Cameron told the Commons this week that Israel has a right to defend itself against rockets from Gaza, which are ‘indiscriminately targeting civilians’.

‘Those criticising Israel’s response must ask themselves how they would expect their own government to react if hundreds of rockets were raining down on British cities today,’ he told MPs.



‘This unprecedented barrage continues to this moment, with Hamas rejecting all proposals for a ceasefire... I have been clear throughout this crisis that Israel has the right to defend itself.’

Defenceless: A wounded Palestinian girl is checked for internal bleeding by a medic at a hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday after an Israeli military strike near her family home

Last year Mr Miliband refused to back air strikes in Syria to help rebels defeat government forces. It was a rare division between opposition and government over foreign affairs, which saw Mr Cameron defeated in a Commons vote.

Israel has said its intention is to permanently weaken Hamas and attack tunnels under the border, which armed militants have used to infiltrate civilian areas in Israel.

Labour’s foreign affairs spokesman Douglas Alexander yesterday said the Israeli incursion had been a ‘strategic error’, which ‘risks … recruiting more supporters to terrorist groups like Hamas’.

█ German leader Angela Merkel yesterday condemned a rise in anti-Semitism, as protesters in France were warned against racial abuse.

French cities were braced for demonstrations last night, after a Paris rally last weekend saw riots and looting of Jewish-owned shops.

