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 “killing” in an extraordinary U-turn a young Palestinian nurse known as the ‘angel of mercy’ who had previously refused to criticize Israel over the killing.
Alistair Burt also accused Israel of conducting false investigations into his death and that of other Palestinians, involving the Israel Defense Force (IDF) as a means of “covering up the killings”.
Mr Burt, who served as Middle East minister in Theresa May’s Conservative administration, said he and his government were wrong to “not call on” Israel over the death of 21-year-old paramedic Razan al-Najjar during Palestinian protests on Gaza’s border with Israel in 2018.
He was fatally shot as he went to the aid of a wounded protester, causing international outrage and posthumous fame for the charismatic Najjar.
The United Nations investigation found ‘reasonable grounds’ to believe he was deliberately shot by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
When the incident occurred, Mr. Burt, then Secretary of State for the Middle East, refused to criticize Israel, only urging them to investigate the matter.
Moreover, he blamed the Palestinians, arguing that “extremist elements are exploiting the protests for their own violent purposes.”
But in a remarkable public admission, Mr Burt says he regrets his “brutal” action, claiming he is now certain Najjar was “clearly targeted and killed” by Israel.
He added that Israel’s commitments to ‘investigate’ this and similar killings were fake and that he and the British government had made a mistake in relying on Israel’s denials.
Asked why he did not 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 brutal.”
He continued: “I thought about this a lot. The strongest memory I have is the shooting of Razan al-Najjar, a young paramedic. He was clearly targeted and killed by the Israelis.”
Mr. Burt said he and the British government made a big mistake by taking the Netanyahu administration at its word, saying it would investigate and take responsibility if the Netanyahu administration determined the IDF was responsible for Najjar’s death.
He says he has no such intention. These and other promised official investigations were all “useless” and, worse, nothing more than a cynical tool to hide the truth.
“We relied on Israel’s response that it knew everything about every shot fired by the IDF. My suspicion at the time – after verification – was that these investigations were effectively useless and were being used by the Israelis as a cover for killings and cover-ups like this one.”
“I and the UK should have been bolder in speaking out.”
Mr Burt’s comments came amid a separate controversy in Israel over the leak of video footage that allegedly showed Israel torturing detained Palestinians at the Sde Teiman detention camp.
Mr Burt’s change of heart is revealed in a new book on Britain’s role in the events surrounding the Israel-Gaza conflict, titled ‘Guilty, Britain’s Role in the Destruction of Gaza’, by journalist and author Peter Oborne.
Mr Burt’s frank comments, particularly his vivid description of his ‘brutal’ recall of mistakenly trusting the Netanyahu government over the deaths of Najjar and other Palestinians, will be seen by Israel’s critics as another sign of Israel’s diminishing international standing in the wake of the Gaza conflict.
The IDF’s internal review into Najjar’s death in 2018 found that he was not deliberately targeted.
The IDF was accused of a smear campaign after releasing film showing Najjar admitting in a television interview that he was a ‘human shield’.
An IDF spokesman said he was ‘not the angel of mercy that Hamas propaganda portrays’.
It was later revealed that the video had been manipulated: Najjar had said that he was ‘a human shield to save the injured’. The phrase ‘to save the injured’ was removed.
When the incident occurred, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom questioned whether Najjar was a real doctor and said his death was further evidence of Hamas’ brutality.
Before her death, Najjar had become a symbol among Palestinians on social media with her colorful headscarf photos and the determined expression on her face.
When he died, he was wearing a white tunic with his hands over his head; this was seen by everyone in the conflict as a sign of 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 Israel Defense Forces when shot’.
The UNCHR “found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli snipers deliberately shot healthcare workers even though they were clearly marked as such.”
In an interview with New York Times A month before her death, Najjar discussed her position as a female volunteer doctor.
He said: “Medicine is not just men’s job. It’s women’s job too. We have one goal: to save lives and evacuate people. And to send a message to the world: We can do anything without guns.”
Her death in June 2018 occurred shortly before she and her fiancee İzzet Şatat announced their engagement at the end of Ramadan.
Thousands of Gazans attended his funeral, with Najjar’s body draped in the Palestinian flag. His father was carrying his bloody medical coat.
Mr Burt touched on allegations that the IDF killed Palestinian protester Mustafa al-Tamimi in 2011 when an Israeli soldier fired a tear gas canister into the face of Palestinian protester Mustafa al-Tamimi in Israel’s occupied West Bank.
Mr Burt said: “We called for an investigation. I was told there would be a response. Nothing. I don’t remember any response.”
Independent He contacted the IDF for comment.
