This week, on a delegation led by CFI’s Parliamentary Chairman in
the House of Commons, Rt. Hon. MP, 8 Conservative
parliamentarians viewed a Hamas terror tunnel found leading into
Israel near Kibbutz Ein HaShlosha.
During a visit to Israel’s southern border with Gaza on Monday,
delegates received a strategic briefing from the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) inside the tunnel, which leads into an agricultural
field in an Israeli kibbutz. In the last three months, the IDF
has found and destroyed three tunnels from Gaza, constructed by
Hamas militants in order to carry out terror incursions into
Israel.
Rt. Hon. MP said: "My colleagues and I
were shocked by the sophisticated tunnel we saw leading into
Israel from Gaza. The fact that Hamas terrorists were just metres
from an Israeli community is deeply worrying, and exemplifies the
threats Israel faces on a daily basis. We in the UK can learn a
great deal from Israel in the fight against terrorism, and we
must do more to prevent international aid from being
misappropriated in Gaza for these despicable activities".
Watch the i24 News report here.
On Wednesday, Conservative MP for East Renfrewshire, Paul
Masterton, viewed a United Hatzalah ambucycle dedicated in memory
of Yoni Jesner, who lived in the constituency and had attended
Belmont House School in Newton Mearns. Yoni Jesner was 19 years
old when he was killed in a suicide bombing on a bus in Israel on
19th September 2002. After sustaining a critical head injury in
the attack, Yoni was taken off life support and his organs were
donated to three people, including a 7-year old Palestinian girl.
The $36,000 ambucycle, donated by Yoni’s friends, family and
community members, is equipped with medical supplies, enabling
volunteer paramedic rider Avi Press to provide emergency medical
treatment in Jerusalem.
CFI Officer said: "My first visit to
Israel and the West Bank has been an eye-opening one. Seeing the
ambucycle dedicated in my constituent Yoni Jesner's memory was
inspiring. Yoni's dream to study medicine in order to save lives
has truly been fulfilled by the life-saving work medic Avi
carries out every day".
The group, which includes MP, , MP, , and CFI Honorary President
CBE, also visited the
Israeli town of Sderot, a regular target of rockets fired from
Gaza, and were briefed by IDF officials at the Erez Crossing on
the Gaza border.
The itinerary has featured a series of meetings with senior
Israeli and Palestinian politicians, journalists and analysts, as
well as high-tech innovators and charities.
Conservative MPs and Lords met with former Yesh Atid MK Dov
Lipman to learn about the work of Israeli charity, Innovation:
Africa, which provides Israeli technology to developing countries
in Africa.
In the West Bank on Wednesday, delegates met Bashar al-Masri, the
visionary behind the first Palestinian-planned city of Rawabi.
They were briefed by Palestinian polling expert Dr Khalil Shikaki
on the latest public opinion trends among Israelis and
Palestinians before meeting Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat in
Ramallah.
The parliamentarians have also met with British Ambassador to
Israel, H.E. David Quarrey, former Israeli Ambassador to the UK,
Daniel Taub, as well as Likud MK Avraham Neguise and Labor MK
Hilik Bar in the Knesset. They visited Israeli broadcaster i24
News, Israeli fintech companies Geektime and Cointelligence, and
have been briefed by Israeli journalists David Horovitz and
Jonathan Spyer.
