Prominent UK politician confronts Netanyahu over Gaza

Michael Howard, former leader of the UK Conservative Party, confronted the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, over the use of live ammunition during recent protests against Palestinians along the Gaza-Israel border. From 2003 to 2005, the Conservative Party in the UK was led by Michael Howard. He confronted Netanyahu by asking why the Israeli forces did not employ alternative methods to deal with the protests like rubber bullets. The use of rubber bullets instead of live ammunition would have been less deadly and could have saved lives. To this Netanyahu stated that the Israeli forces tried other methods but they did not work.  

This was asked when Netanyahu was in London as part of his tour of UK, Germany, and France. He visited the capitals of these European countries trying to persuade them to withdraw their support from the Iran nuclear deal. Netanyahu had to face a plethora of questions that included the Israeli aggression in Palestine during the event which was organized by the Policy Exchange think tank. Mr. Howard is a prominent Jewish figure in British politics who is currently a member of the House of Lords. He stated that why does Israel need to kill the protesters who scale the fence. He also pondered why the Israeli forces cannot use more peaceful methods like rubber bullets or shooting the protesters on the leg instead of killing them. Netanyahu asserted that everything suggested by Mr. Howard has been tried and it is not the primary intention of Israeli forces to kill the protesters. He took another route and blamed the militant group, Hamas, for orchestrating the deaths of Palestinians. He stated that Hamas, that runs Gaza, wants more Palestinian deaths while Israel wants to minimize the casualties.  

The comments from Mr. Howard came after British Prime Minister, Theresa May, told Netanyahu that the British government was concerned over the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza. In an on-camera discussion in the Downing Street, Theresa May stated that while Britain recognizes that self-defense is the right of Israel, it should try to alleviate the situation with Gaza. As usual, Netanyahu proclaimed that the deteriorating condition is due to the goal of Hamas to destroy and obliterate Israel.