David Horovitz came to the UK for a 2 day speaking tour which included a ZF event with Kinloss Shul, speaking to City of London Boys School, an Israel Connect Event a Breakfast briefing and a ZF reception.
David spoke about the contrast between the invasion of Lebanon in 2006 and the recent Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. In 2006 the government was over-confident and the Chief of Staff – who was from the Air Force – overestimated what could be achieved from the air. In 2006 there was not enough food and equipment for the army. In Gaza the situation was much better. The operation was well planned with a day by day timetable (which included the retaking of Gaza but that was rejected by the Cabinet). The incidence of rocket fire has been much reduced.
He moved to the portrayal of the operation in the foreign media. The Guardian and The Independent are the most hostile newspapers in the world. The Guardian had given an op-ed to Khaled Mashal four months before Hamas violently put down Fatah in Gaza. The Independent had run Israel-bashing front pages for two successive days. David Horovitz also expressed incredulity that Ahmadinejad had been asked to give the alternative Christmas message on Channel 4. He noted that the Islamic world had not reacted when Israel attacked six mosques in Gaza, suggesting that they appreciated that Hamas was using them as military sites. He thought that Israel did not have enough presence in the media in the UK. He said it was a mistake to ban Western media from Gaza. The IDF spokesperson Avi Benayahou was good but he did not see advocacy in the international press as important.
He moved to the election. There were 34 parties for 7.5 million people, including one party that was a coalition of Holocaust Survivors and ‘Legalise marijuana’. The threshold for representation was 2%. The electorate had moved to the ‘right’, they said they wanted a Palestinian State but that the Palestinians were not yet ready. David Horovitz thinks a broad coalition including Kadima is needed.
H spoke about Iran and about how serious the threat is - many are very pessimistic saying for example that far from being a deterrent, ‘mutually assured destruction’ is an inducement for the Iranian regime.
In the wide-ranging Q+A sessions David Horovitz was asked how he had voted. He declined to answer because he wanted to position the Jerusalem Post in the middle ground. When it was the Palestine Post it was linked to Labour. Then with Shamir it moved to Likud. Now it is not linked to either side.
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