Jo Cox – A victim of Farage, Boris Johnson and the Daily Express’s Hate Campaign

Farage, Johnson & the Daily Express Editor should be in the Dock with Thomas Mair

We can and never will know what went through the mind of Thomas Mair.  What we do know he was composed enough to answer, in response to a request to give his name, ‘"Death to traitors freedom for Britain"  As far as he was concerned Jo Cox, who was well known for her campaigning for and in support of Syrian refugees, was a traitor. 

Thomas Mair (centre) on a Britain First picket of a Muslim stall - Let's see Britain First proscribed as a terrorist organisation

The idea that he was suffering from mental health problems is irrelevant.  People who are mentally ill don’t carefully construct a gun from manuals, which they’ve ordered from neo-Nazi sites in America, they don’t subscribe to Apartheid South African magazines, they don’t picket Muslim stalls with other members of Britain First. 

Jo Cox 5th from left outside the House of Commons with fellow MPs

Mair's problem was that he was an aggressive, violent fascist.

Muslims who end up in court for murder, like those who killed Private Clegg, aren't considered mentally ill, though it is highly likely at least one of them was.  They were considered, rightly, as responsible for their actions and that should be the same with Thomas Mair.

Louise Mensch, Zionist and former Tory MP makes excuses for Jo Cox's murderer - Nick Griffin of neo-Nazi BNP approves of her comments though

What is true though is that  Mair was emboldened to go out, with a knife and a gun and kill Jo Cox because in Britain at the moment there is a European Referendum campaign in which refugees and migrants are being demonised. 

By chance I was in Leeds the very day that Jo was murdered, as I was speaking there that evening.  As I came into the city I noticed a large poster saying that Turkey was going to join the European Union (a lie) and underneath that something about 78 million migrants. 

If anyone bears responsibility for the death of Jo Cox MP it is Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson and the Daily Express Editor amongst others, with their toxic and racist campaign.  They should be in the dock alongside Mair as accomplices to murder.

See We mourn and will miss Jo Cox

In January this year, Sarah Champion (Rotherham) (Lab) moved that the House consider damning reports into Israel’s system of martial law that is now in its 49th year, including allegations that “alleged ill-treatment of children during arrest, transfer, interrogation and detention have not significantly decreased in 2013 and 2014”. Cox made one of the earliest contributions:

Jo Cox (Batley and Spen) (Lab)

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate. She will be aware that evidence from Military Court Watch suggests that 65% of children continue to report being arrested at night in what are described as terrifying raids by the military. Will she comment on that worrying fact?

She was preceded by the execrable Mrs Louise Ellman (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab/Co-op) who asked Champion if she accepted that “the context in which these situations occur is an organised campaign conducted by the Palestinian authorities of incitement, to try to provoke young Palestinians to carry out acts of violence towards other civilians, some of which result in death, including the death of young children?”

Cox’s contribution was followed by that of Conservative Friend of Israel Vice-Chairman, Andrew Percy (Brigg and Goole) (Con) who suggested Champion “knows full well that the difficulty of arresting people during the day instead of the night is that it has led to deaths and riots. The authorities are operating in a very difficult context.”

It is worth noting here that Jo Cox was joined in her condemnation of Israel’s actions by Naz Shah MP, who made a memorable and complementary contribution:

Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Sarah Champion) on securing this very important debate, and it is a great honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Chope.

I will keep my speech very brief. The hon. Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) referred to a doll. I would argue that people do not need dolls to promote hate and violence. What we have before us in Israel and Palestine is children between the ages of nine and 12 experiencing discrimination. I have children of my own who are aged eight and 11, but I cannot begin to imagine the trauma and the stamp on Palestinian children’s brains and hearts of hatred towards the Israeli military as they grow up and face discrimination, as well as the way they are tret in custody. So I would argue that we do not need props.

Only recently, Shin Bet told the Israeli Government that Abbas was not encouraging terror and was actually promoting peace. So, I disagree with my hon. Friends when they say that the Palestinians are promoting this kind of propaganda.

As a former chair of a mental health charity and having my own children, I really struggle to understand why the Israeli Government and the world are silent on dealing with the trauma that these Palestinian children are growing up with. Surely we know that hate breeds hate; laws aside, that is just common sense. There are children who are blindfolded and tortured. We have got evidence before us. How can my hon. Friends ignore that? How can anyone even present a counter-argument to it? We are talking about the basic humanitarian right of children, which we in this House have signed up to, and we must support these children with conviction. There should be no excuse for taking children aged nine away from their homes, detaining them and sending them to prison. That is absolutely unacceptable.

Mrs Ellman

I note my hon. Friend’s comments that a child should not be detained, and I assume that she means in any circumstances. Suppose a child was involved in an act of violence that resulted in the deaths of other human beings. That is what has happened with young Palestinians throwing stones—people have been killed. In those circumstances, surely she thinks that there should be detention.

Below is a tribute from Medical Aid to Palestine to someone who was an outspoken advocate for Palestine.

Remembering Jo Cox MP

17 June 2016

The team at MAP were saddened to hear about the tragic death of Jo Cox MP. 

She frequently spoke out in Parliament on issues in Palestine. Below is her intervention on Gaza made last year. 

Jo Cox (Batley and Spen) (Lab): As a former Oxfam aid worker for many years, I have worked for far too long on and in the conflict that we are debating, but I still believe that there will be a resolution in my lifetime—hopefully in the next few years.

Because of the time constraints, I will focus on three things. First, I would love a response from the Minister about what confidence-building action the Government are taking, particularly on Gaza. The Gaza reconstruction mechanism is clearly not working, but it is also not a substitute for easing the closure. There is a need for urgent expansion of access to Israeli markets for Palestinian exports. 

What measures are the Government taking to that end? We also need to remove the last restrictions on the export of Gazan products to the west bank.

I would like construction materials to be allowed into Gaza urgently. The facts are clear: only one home has been rebuilt in the past year, since the bombing, and the projections are that it will take hundreds of years to rebuild at the current rate. There is a need for materials to get into Gaza so that people can rebuild their lives. What is the Government’s view on that?

In addition, people need to get in and out of Gaza. In 2000 about 500,000 people were leaving and returning to Gaza, for work or to see family members. This year the number is 18,000, which is very low, and we need to raise it quickly. We also need the Israeli Government to continue to believe that there will be a cost to their allowing further settlement expansion in the west bank. I would love to know what the Government are doing to get that message clearly heard by the Israeli Government. I would be interested also in the Government’s view of the Israeli Government’s silent policy of retrospectively legalising illegal outposts.

Finally, the allegations—including allegations of war crimes—in the commission of inquiry’s report must be investigated fully by Israel and Hamas. Both sides of the conflict deserve access to justice and accountability. For the most part domestic mechanisms and investigations are poor; they are either rejected quickly or not run to international standards. Indeed, the report notes that Israel has a

“lamentable track record in holding wrong doers accountable” and that investigation by Hamas is “woefully inadequate”. Following the UK’s welcome endorsement of the report last week, I would love to hear what the Government intend to do to support international mechanisms to pursue justice and accountability, particularly in relation to preliminary work by the International Criminal Court.