Gerald Kaufman the Father of the British House of Commons and the longest-serving British MP who was known as a scathing critic of Israel died on Monday at the age of 86 according to his family.
Kaufman who is Jewish from Polish origins served 47 years in the British Parliament as an MP of the Labor Party. He attacked the Israeli “Nazi policy” which put him among the top British figures targeted by the Israeli government and media.
Since he was elected MP for Manchester city north of Britain Kaufman was known for his hardline positions toward the issues of Labor wealth and social justice in his circle as well as his hostility to Israel on the foreign political level.
One of Kaufman’s most famous stands was launching a campaign in 2002 against an Israeli military operation against the Gaza Strip and calling for ending the war. He described Israel as “a rogue state” and accused the Israel’s then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on the BBC of allowing his soldiers to use “brutal methods against Palestinians” and “staining the star of David with Palestinians’ blood.”
Kaufman served as shadow foreign secretary from 1987 to 1992 in the labor government and maintained his support for Palestinians and all just cases.
In 2004 he published a strongly-worded article in the Guardian newspaper calling for imposing international sanctions on Israel similar to the sanctions that were imposed on South Africa during the Apartheid era.
He accused Israel in 2009 of exploiting the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust in Europe in the forties of the past century to justify the Israeli army’s crimes in the Operation Cast Lead waged against the Gaza Strip.
In another earth-shaking article the British MP accused Israel of committing war crimes and accused the Israeli voters of being involved in these crimes.
