Former minister issues extraordinary apology for trusting Israel over killing of Palestine’s ‘angel of mercy’
A former Conservative minister has accused Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of “murdering” a young Palestinian nurse – known as the ‘angel of mercy’ – in an extraordinary U-turn, having previously refused to criticise Israel over the death.
Alistair Burt also accused Israel of conducting bogus inquiries into her death and that of other Palestinians involving the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) as a means of “covering up killings”.
Mr Burt, who served as the Middle East minister in Theresa May’s Conservative administration, says he and her government were wrong not to “call out” Israel over the death of paramedic Razan al-Najjar, 21, in Palestinian protests on Gaza’s border with Israel in 2018.
She was fatally shot going to the aid of a wounded demonstrator, prompting international outrage and posthumous fame for charismatic Najjar.
A United Nations investigation found ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe she was shot deliberately by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
When the incident occurred Mr Burt, then the Foreign Office Minister responsible for the Middle East, refused to criticise Israel, merely urging them to investigate the matter.
Moreover he pointed the finger of blame at the Palestinians, arguing “extremist elements exploited the protests for their own violent purposes”.
However, in a remarkable public confession, Mr Burt now says he regrets his “grim” action, claiming he is now certain that Najjar was ”clearly targeted and murdered” by Israel.
He added that Israeli pledges to ‘investigate’ this and other such killings were bogus – and he and the British government had been wrong to trust Israeli denials.
Asked why he had failed to condemn Israel’s actions when Najjar was killed, a pained Mr Burt said: “I know exactly what I did. I know why I did it. And it’s grim”.
He continued: “I have thought about this a lot. The strongest memory I have was the shooting of the young paramedic Razan al-Najjar. She was clearly targeted and murdered by the Israelis.”
Mr Burt said he and the British government had made a grave error in taking the Netanyahu administration at its word when it said it would investigate and own up if it found the IDF was to blame for Najjar’s death.
It had no such intention, he says. This and other similar promised official inquiries were all “useless” – and worse, nothing more than a cynical device to conceal the truth.
“We relied on the Israeli response that they know all about every shot that was fired by the IDF. My suspicion then — since confirmed — is that these investigations were effectively useless and used as a cover by the Israelis for the killing and covering up such as this.
