Israel government spokesman Eylon Levy suspended after comments about Gaza aid

Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldbanned from sitebanned from communitybanned from site to World News@lemmy.world – 79 points – Israel government spokesman Eylon Levy suspended after comments about Gaza aid
haaretz.com

Levy's suspension follows a tweet, in response to British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, that 'there are NO limits on the entry of food, water, medicine, or shelter equipment into Gaza, and in fact the crossings have EXCESS capacity'

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After looking a bunch I can't find anywhere where Levy backtracked or said that Israel blocks UK aid. Where are you getting that from?

A small correction the israeli government backtracked Levy's statement not Levy himself.

This article has more context but it omits the part where a British Parliament member earlier told about the trucks being blocked.

According to Israeli media reports, the British government complained to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office after Levy posted a reply to Lord Cameron urging the Israeli government to deliver more aid.

Replying to the former Prime Minister, Levy, in a now-deleted tweet said: “I hope you are also aware there are NO limits on the entry of food, water, medicine, or shelter equipment into Gaza, and in fact the crossings have EXCESS capacity,”

“Test us. Send another 100 trucks a day to Kerem Shalom and we’ll get them in.”

According to Israel’s Channel 12 news, the Foreign Office wrote to the Israeli government asking if the post they deemed critical of Cameron was the country’s official position, at which point Levy was suspended.

This article is about the first part: (happened recently before the article above)

British member of parliament Alicia Kearns said on X (formerly Twitter) that Israel was failing to meet its legal obligation to help aid get into the besieged enclave, citing the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing. "I've just returned from the aid staging location in Egypt, thousands of trucks are sat waiting to deliver aid," she wrote.

In response, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy claimed that the crossing was "currently closed on Saturdays at the request of the UN because there is so much undistributed aid piling up on the other side".

Kearns asked for evidence from Levy, pointing out that his claim was the "opposite" of what she had been told by the UK government, Egyptian government and the UN. "They are clear the Israeli Govt requested no deliveries on a Saturday," she wrote.

Thanks for the reply. So to sum up my own understanding of what you sent - neither Israel nro Levy has officially denied entry of aid, though Kearns claims that the UK gov / Egyptian gov / UN all told her that the Israeli gov did not want aid deliveries coming in on Saturdays (she makes no mention of aid coming in any other day of the week).

So she is claiming that the crossing is closed on Saturdays because Israel requested no aid to come on Saturdays, whereas Levy claimed that the crossing was closed Saturday at the request of the UN. That disagreement is about the cause for a crossing being closed on a Saturday, and does not mean that aid is being blocked in general from entry. Israel has suspended Levy, but has not officially disagreed with his statement that Israel is letting as much aid in as can be sent.

Israel is blocking aid at Rafah that is confirmed by the UK Parliament member earlier. Saying israel isn't using starvation as a weapon of war is just denying reality.

Why is Cameron calling for israel to let in aid and not for Egypt? Because israel is blocking it.