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MP Fabian Hamilton: hard to defend Israel

August 5, 2010 10:17

By

Jessica Elgot,

Jessica Elgot

1 min read

The Labour MP for Leeds North East, Fabian Hamilton, says it is becoming more and more difficult to defend Israel in the House of Commons.

The long-serving Jewish MP represents Alwoodley, Moortown and Roundhay, home to the majority of Leeds' 8,000 Jews.

He said: "Labour Friends of Israel is still quite strong, as are the Conservatives. But there is a stronger pro-Palestinian lobby too. Some of Israel's mistakes have really strengthened them.

"If you're a neutral MP, you'd think the flotilla was appalling - it's bound to pull you in a certain direction. They [Israel] might have had a damn good reason to do what they did to the Gaza flotilla but, my God, it was bad PR and the Palestinian lobby is unfortunately capitalising on that."