WARNING – DISTRESSING IMAGES: Band Aid organiser Sir Bob Geldof accused the Israeli government of ‘lying’ about there being ‘no famine caused by Israel’ in Gaza
Furious Bob Geldof speaks about starvation in Gaza
Sir Bob Geldof has said images of starving children in Gaza “enrages” him as he slammed the UK Government for not doing enough.
The Band Aid organiser accused the Israeli government of “lying” about there being “no famine caused by Israel”. “They’re dangling food in front of starving, panicked, exhausted mothers,” he said.
In a passionate interview with Sky News, a furious Sir Bob questioned how a powerful supercomputer could be developed in the UK earlier this month at the same time as babies were being forced to survive on a teaspoon of salt and as much water as possible in Gaza. He said: “Shut up. What have we become that we can do this miracle and perpetuate this agony?”
And he was critical of the UK government, which he said had done “not enough”. Sir Bob suggested recognising Palestinian statehood – as Keir Starmer has been under pressure to do – would not make a “difference” to the humanitarian emergency. He told Labour MPs to stop signing their letters calling for it and said it was a kind of “virtue signalling” at this point, adding: “Enough. Guys, focus on the issue to hand.”
READ MORE: Heartbreaking images of Gaza kids on brink of death can no longer be ignored
The political activist said the absolute priority is stopping starving mothers and infants being used as “instruments of war”. On the Israel-Hamas conflict, he said: “I’m really not interested in what either of these sides are saying. When you target infants and children, when their wounds are no longer capable of healing, when breastfeeding mothers can no longer do this, then everything goes out the window.”
When asked if it was “unfair” to criticise Israelis, many of whom were protesting against their PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s offensive in Gaza, Sir Bob said they should drive to the border to drop off aid. He said: “What’s unfair is what’s happening to these babies…. What’s unfair is that one hour from the hunger, people are sitting down to their unthreatened dinners to turn on the next Netflix show.
“So if Israelis want to protest, get in your cars. This is very bold stuff, I know, sorry about that. Get in your car, stuff your cars full of food and drive through that border and let your own army stop you.”
The UK is working with the Jordanian authorities to get aid in through airdrops into Gaza. Treasury minister James Murray said: “We need to be doing everything we possibly can to help.” But he admitted “there are real limits and drawbacks with airdrops when it comes to aid”.
Elsewhere, the PM has been under pressure to recognise Palestine immediately after French President Emmanuel Macron announced his country would do so in September.
Some 221 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and independents have signed a letter pressuring the Gove
rnment to follow suit at a UN meeting next week. The majority of those who have signed, 131, are Labour MPs.
Mr Murray said on Sunday: “As a Government, we’re committed to the recognition of Palestine, but we need to work with international partners and we need to use that moment to galvanise change. It needs to be part of a pathway to peace.” He added: “140 countries have already recognised Palestine. The suffering is still continuing.”
Meanwhile Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said pictures of children starving in Gaza have not changed her support for Israel. “War is a difficult situation and what I see when I see Israel is a country that is trying to defend itself, mostly from Iran and a lot of its proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis. I think they are in a very difficult situation.
“What worries me is that the length of time that this war has been going on is making it very difficult for the people in the Palestinian territories and also for Israel. We need to bring things to an end.”
READ MORE: Join our Mirror politics WhatsApp group to get the latest updates from Westminster