You attack 'em and we'll patch 'em
/Mary Dejevsky: Oxfam is there to help people – not to dabble in politics
Not that Ms Dejevsky has an agenda or anything. Nooooooooo!
Mary who? Mary of: the very short answer
PS: Ms Dejevsky might want to address the fact that the UN, the Red Cross and other aid agencies are having to suspend or scale down their operations at this time because they are being fired on by the fucking Israeli Army (sorry, that should be the 'Israeli Defence Force').
A full-page advert...appeared in the Financial Times this week, demanding "No ifs, No buts. The fighting in Gaza must stop", and calling for "nothing less than a total, unconditional ceasefire by all sides", with "the full weight, and complete commitment, of the international community"...The £40,000 advert (more than double that, if it appeared in FT foreign editions as well) was paid for by that good old disaster charity, Oxfam.Absolutely, my dear. Keep supplying wound-dressing, antibiotics, food and water to the victims of violence but whatever you do DO NOT call on all sides and on the rest of us to do everything we can to STOP the violence. NO! That would be 'political' (and, incidentally, not welcome, at this moment at least, by the Israelis.)
Note: Oxfam was not appealing for money to buy food or medical assistance – both of which we know to be in desperately short supply in Gaza – but for something that is, essentially, in the gift of politicians.
How is it that a charity, such as Oxfam, whose purpose and image in the British public mind is so clearly defined as disaster relief, has gone down a route which is so political? You do not need to take one side or the other to contribute money that will pay for food, medicine or expertise. But what business is it of Oxfam's – really – whether and when the fighting stops?
Not that Ms Dejevsky has an agenda or anything. Nooooooooo!
Mary who? Mary of: the very short answer
PS: Ms Dejevsky might want to address the fact that the UN, the Red Cross and other aid agencies are having to suspend or scale down their operations at this time because they are being fired on by the fucking Israeli Army (sorry, that should be the 'Israeli Defence Force').
