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.
“I and the UK should have been more bold in calling this out.”
Mr Burt’s comments come amid a separate controversy in Israel over leaked video footage allegedly showing IDF soldiers carrying out torture at Israel’s Sde Teiman detention camp for imprisoned Palestinians.
Mr Burt’s change of heart is disclosed in a new book on Britain’s role in events surrounding the Israel-Gaza conflict by journalist and author Peter Oborne entitled ‘Complicit, Britain’s Role In The Destruction of Gaza.’
Mr Burt’s candid comments, in particular the vivid account of his ‘grim’ recall of having wrongly trusted the Netanyahu government over the death of Najjar and other Palestinians, will be seen by Israel’s critics as a further sign of its diminished international standing in the wake of the Gaza conflict.
An internal review by the IDF into Najjar’s death in 2018 found she was not intentionally targeted.
The IDF was accused of a smear campaign after releasing a film purporting to show that in a TV interview Najjar had admitted she was a ‘human shield.”
An IDF spokesman said she was ‘not the angel of mercy Hamas propaganda is making her out to be.’
It later emerged that the video had been manipulated: Najjar had said she was a ‘human shield to save the injured.” The words ‘to save the injured’ had been edited out.
Israel’s ambassador to the UK when the incident occurred questioned whether Najjar was a genuine medic and said her death was further evidence of the brutality of Hamas.
Najjar had become an icon among Palestinians before her death, with photographs of her on social media in colourful headscarves, a determined look etched on her face.
When she died, she was wearing a white tunic with her hands above her head, recognised by all those in the conflict as signalling a medic who should not be targeted..
An investigation into her death by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) found that she was clearly marked as a nurse and ‘did not pose a threat of death or serious injury to the IDF when she was shot.’
The UNCHR “found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers intentionally shot health workers despite seeing that they were clearly marked as such.”
In an interview with the New York Times a month before her death, Najjar discussed her position as a female volunteer medic.
She said: “Being a medic is not only a job for a man. It’s for women, too. We have one goal. To save lives and evacuate people. And to send a message to the world: Without weapons, we can do anything.”
Her death in June 2018 came shortly before she and fiancé Izzat Shatat were to announce their engagement at the end of Ramadan.
Thousands of Gazans attended her funeral with Najjar’s body wrapped in a Palestinian flag. Her father carried her blood-stained medical jacket.
Mr Burt cited another alleged IDF killing when an Israeli soldier shot a tear gas canister in the face of Palestinian protester, Mustafa al-Tamimi, in Israel’s occupied West Bank in 2011.
Mr Burt said: “We called for an investigation. I was promised there would be a response. Nothing. I do not recall any answer at all.”
The Independent has contacted the IDF for comment.
