“Israel in the UK” video erases West Bank, Gaza off the Palestinian map
(QNN) – The Israeli Embassy in the UK released on its Twitter account a video that erased the occupied Palestinian territories off the map, showing the whole of historic Palestine as “Israel”.
The Twitter account of the Israeli Embassy in London published on 13 March 2019 a video to explain the upcoming Israeli general election on 9 April and answer questions like “what is the Knesset” and “who do people vote for”.
The video showed the map of historic Palestine in an answer to the question “do they [Israelis] vote for representatives of their city or district?” The video explained “Israel is very small, so the whole country is a single constituency,” while a graphic draws the outline of historic Palestine and shades in the whole space, erasing the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip.
Though the outline of the West Bank can be seen beneath the shading, the video still shows the territory as part of the “single constituency” of Israel. The Gaza Strip, on the other hand, is not demarcated at all.
What is the @KnessetIL? How do #Israeli #elections work? Here is a guide to Israel's parliamentary #democracy and its fair electoral system.🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/RMeV4PkKAm
— Israel in the UK 🇮🇱🤝🇬🇧 (@IsraelinUK) March 13, 2019
The video is another attempt by the Israeli occupation to impose its sovereignty over the whole land of Palestine.
Israeli politicians have been keen to give promises to their people to annex all or parts of the West Bank and increase Israel’s illegal settlement there as part of their election campaigns. The New Right (Hayemin Hehadash) party – which was formed by Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked after they broke away from the Jewish Home party – has vowed to annex “Area C”, which makes up 61 percent of the occupied West Bank.
Currently, nearly 297,000 Palestinians live in Area C, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHAoPt), which raises questions as to their fate should the New Right join the ruling coalition after 9 April.
Moreover, the Blue and White alliance – now polling as the main challenger to incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party – which is seen as a centrist political party, has vowed that the Jordan Valley, which lies deep in the West Bank, will be Israel’s border.
The Israeli embassy’s video came on the same day the US State Department dropped its usual description of the Golan Heights as “Israeli-occupied”, changing the designation to “Israeli-controlled”. The State Department’s annual global human rights report also failed to mention the words “occupied” or “occupation” in a separate section about the West Bank and Gaza.
The Israeli embassy did not provide comments regarding erasing the Palestinian territories of Palestine’s historic map, according to the Middle East Monitor.
