Mandy Damari, mother of Israeli hostage Emily Damari, with KU Foreign Secretary David Lammy (Photo: Social media)
Veteran journalist Melanie Phillips stated that “the British state has lost its mind over Israel.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has given an outward display of solidarity to the mother of the one remaining British-Israeli hostage, Emily Damari, while again urging Israel to provide humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, despite the Red Cross being denied access to the hostages for 427 days.
Emily’s mother, Mandy Damari, told British politicians this week that her heart was “broken” over the recent UK vote on a draft resolution at the United Nations Security Council, for a ceasefire not conditioned on the release of any of the 100 hostages still in Gaza.
The disappointment arose since both Lammy and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer had promised Damari personally that they would fight for her 28-year-old daughter, Phillips reported.
However, “they said one thing to me, and then did another,” Damari told the Daily Mail. “Maybe they talk behind closed doors about her, but supporting this UN motion shows that when it comes down to it, they are not doing enough to get her home alive.
“This decision basically signs a death warrant for her if there is no demand for a hostage release at the same time as a ceasefire,” she added. “My daughter should be returned home alive now before it’s too late for her and she comes back to me in a body bag.”
After being photographed with Damari at a Parliamentary lunch on Monday, during which she gave an emotional address, Lammy posted a message on 𝕏 without mentioning the hostages.
“Together [the UK, France and Germany] have written to the Israeli government to urge action on the unacceptable humanitarian situation in Gaza. Israel must implement the UN’s winter plan now: send equipment to guard against cold & flooding, give access to fuel, repair vital infrastructure, and get aid in.”
The Israeli government was forced to respond firmly on Tuesday, saying that Israel is “facilitating the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip and does not impose any restrictions on the quantity of aid entering the Strip.”
“However,” explained Oren Marmorstein, spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “within the Gaza Strip, international organisations are failing to distribute the aid due to looting by Hamas, among other reasons.”
Marmorstein said it was “disappointing that the Foreign Ministers of the E3 [UK, France, Germany] failed to address the October 7 massacre and the daily attacks on Israeli civilians since then.”
Mandy Damari was reportedly given a two-minute standing ovation after a tearful talk at the annual lunch hosted by the Labour Friends of Israel group for Members of Parliament, including Starmer and several of his key cabinet colleagues.
“I want us all to take a moment and picture Emily right now,” Damari told the gathering, “with mental and physical scarring that may never heal, clothed in dirty rags, lice in her hair, probably still in pain from the gunshot wounds in her hand and leg that were not treated properly, shivering, starving, dehydrated, ghostly pale…”
“Her breathing slow, a bucket for a toilet, impossible to get away from the stench, watched over by people who want to murder or rape her, terrified in every waking moment, and too scared to fall asleep, fighting to stay alive, minute after minute, month after month, 423 days with no end in sight. She’s in hell.”
The desperate mother continued, mentioning both the Red Cross and the Qatari government.
“I’ve been calling for humanitarian aid to be delivered immediately to the hostages. Now, I’m asking the British government to lead this effort on the international stage to secure Emily and the other surviving hostages that [could] doctors visit and [have] clean food and water, to keep all the hostages alive while the campaign to bring them home continues.”
Damari said that the UN draft resolution would only “leave Emily and the other hostages in the hands of Hamas, giving them no incentive to ever release them.”
“That vote shocked me and it broke my heart,” she admitted. “Nobody is more supportive of peace than I am. Nobody. But there will be no peace until Emily and all the hostages are brought home, those who are alive should be returned to their families and those who are dead returned for a respectful burial.”
The advocacy effort, and the UK government response, came immediately before King Charles and the Prince and Princess of Wales welcomed to London the Emir of Qatar and his wife on Tuesday.
On Wednesday evening, the Israeli military cleared for publication the sad news that soldiers had recovered the body of slain hostage, Itay Svirsky.
Qatar has been hosting the Hamas senior leadership and playing a key role in the negotiations for the release of the Israeli and international captives, including children, teenagers, wounded men and women and elderly civilians, held by Hamas since the terror group invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
