Where did Mr Ed get West Bank info? Same place West Midlands Police went?

So who are the advisers to our esteemed Foreign Secretary, Ed Milliband. Could they be the same group that advised the West Midlands Police over the Aston Villa-Maccabi Tel Aviv fixture with such catastrophic consequences for the career of the now former West Midlands Chief Constable Craig Guildford?

Or perhaps our esteemed Foreign Secretary was briefed by the FCO mandarins in King Charles Street. And perhaps it was they who were being fed information from the same group that advised the West Midlands Police.

Wherever the advice came from, it was certainly not impartial nor based on accurate historical information but rather obviously on a Palestinian narrative that is either wholly fictional or heavily dependent on half-truths and omissions. There were many aspects of the Foreign Secretary’s shameful Commons performance that were worthy of condemnation, but I will take issue with just one: to call the actions of Israel “ethnic cleansing” is a calumny and mendacious to the max and Mr Ed should be ashamed.

The situation on “The West Bank” is complicated beginning with its nomenclature.

Until 1946/7, the area to the west of the River Jordan was known as Judea and Samaria – as can be seen on any and every contemporaneous map of the region. When this entire area was grabbed by Jordan, its name was changed to The West Bank in a bid to erase its Jewish heritage.

Indeed, even choosing to refer to the area as “The West Bank” strongly suggests acceptance of the Palestinian premise. Or just subtle indoctrination. Persistently choosing to refer to it as “The West Bank” – as everyone at the BBC does – suggests having been lured down a pro-Palestine rabbit-hole.

Now let’s look more closely at the shameful charge of “ethnic cleansing.” And see why believing that confirms that the Foreign Secretary has been advised by the same people who advised West Midlands Police, or perhaps suggests he has plunged headlong into that rabbit-hole. In 1946 or ’47, but anyway, a little while before Israel’s independence, the Jewish population of Judea and Samaria was roughly 100,000. Jordan kicked out all of the Jews. You might almost call it “ethnic cleansing” or a Naqba, except Jews were not invited to be citizens of Jordan.

Between 1947/8 and 1967, the Jewish population of Judea and Samaria AKA The West Bank was zero (or essentially zero; a few students studied on Mt Scopus). For those not au fait with the region’s genuine history, by the way, 1967 was when Israel acquired Judea and Samaria AKA The West Bank. Not, incidentally, as a result of “colonizing” or conquest, but by winning a defensive war in which it was attacked by Jordan, the Soviet-backed armies of Egypt and Syria, and pretty much the rest of the Arab world.

By contrast, when Israel acquired the territory in 1967, the Palestinian-Arab population of Judea and Samaria AKA The West Bank was 700,000. Today, it has spiraled to 4.75 million.

Yup, you read that right, the Palestinian-Arab population has risen from 700,000 to 4.75 million. I’d be intrigued to know which sentient being – let alone one who has reached the giddy heights of Secretary of State in the FCO – deemed that such a prolific population growth could possibly represent “ethnic cleansing.”

Of course there are – as previously mentioned – complicating factors such as the peace and prosperity promised by the Oslo Accords that were so cruelly sabotaged by the extremists and Islamists who have no desire to help Palestinians but simply wish to exploit them. And then there are the fault-lines in Israeli politics and society that add to the complexity.

But however complex, to describe the actions of Israel as “ethnic cleansing” is not just mendacious and a calumny, but hands a slogan entirely devoid of truth to the Jew-haters. And of course to the BBC which produced a perfectly co-ordinated hatchet-job to accompany Mr Ed’s statement.

For the British government to capitulate to the Islamist mob by espousing a false and mendacious version of reality is shameful. But for the Foreign Secretary to stand up in the Commons and brandish his Jewish heritage while espousing a false and mendacious version of reality, is unforgivable.