The actress Maureen Lipman has condemned what she calls “heartless liberals” for failing to criticise atrocities carried out by Hamas.
Last week Artists for Palestine UK, whose members include actors Steve Coogan and Tilda Swinton, published a letter accusing Israel of war crimes without mentioning the Hamas attacks.
According to The Telegraph:
Responding to this, Dame Maureen said: “These bleeding heartless liberals care so deeply for the Palestinians… that they espouse their cause at the expense of every other oppressed people of the world…
“Shame. Shame. Shame on every one of you.”
The Artists for Palestine UK letter accused Western governments of “aiding and abetting” Israel’s “war crimes” in Gaza and said Palestinians face “collective punishment on a grand scale”.
Dame Maureen, known for films including Educating Rita, as well as for starring in Coronation Street and the British Telecom TV adverts of the 1980s, called the authors “bigoted”.
“When babies were garrotted, women dragged by their hair and a family had eyeballs gouged out and fingers chopped off in front of their children – do they really think that Israeli blockades on the border with Gaza are a justification for such acts of violence?
“Those bigoted signaturists, do they have no soul as well as no judgment? These bleeding heartless liberals care so deeply for the Palestinians (who, since 1937, have turned down no fewer than five offers of a two-state solution) that they espouse their cause at the expense of every other oppressed people of the world.
“The Palestinians are not Hamas, I agree; they just elected them. And, 17 years later, Hamas has done nothing for the Palestinians save stealing the millions donated in aid money while keeping them in penury.”
She added: “I would love the signaturists to answer me this question: If your beloved country had been under attack for 70 years, with concrete tunnels under Birmingham and York and Ipswich, and rockets landing daily on Oxford University and Penny Lane and the Tiny Tim toddlers club… how angry and exhausted and how determined to defend your country against any future attacks would you be?
“You artists purport to work in a business which, above all, demands empathy. Yet, you cannot see an inch past your own prejudice that the only good Jew is a homeless, victimised, impoverished one. Shame. Shame. Shame on every one of you.”
