Former British PM Margaret Thatcher, ‘staunch friend of Israel,’ dies

Former British PM Margaret Thatcher,

‘staunch friend of Israel,’ dies

April 8, 2013

 

 

 

(JTA) -- Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who was considered a good friend of Israel despite a rocky relationship with Prime Minister Menachem Begin, has died.

Thatcher died Monday after suffering a stroke. She was 87. Thatcher suffered from dementia at the end of her life, which was dramatized in the 2011 movie "The Iron Lady."

The only female to serve as prime minister of Britain, she also was the longest continuously serving prime minister in the 20th century, leading the country and her Conservative Party from 1979 to 1990.

Thatcher was supportive of Israel but had a troubled relationship with Begin, who served two terms in the 1980s. She called Begin the "most difficult" man she had to deal with, according to the Chronicle. She also strongly opposed Israel's bombing of Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned her passing in a statement.

"She was truly a great leader, a woman of principle, of determination, of conviction, of strength; a woman of greatness," Netanyahu said. "She was a staunch friend of Israel and the Jewish people. She inspired a generation of political leaders. I send my most sincere condolences to her family and to the government and people of Great Britain."

Thatcher had a strong relationship with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and together they fought communism, leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Her Cabinets included several Jewish members, including Nigel Lawson, Malcolm Rifkind, Keith Joseph and Leon Brittan, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

http://jvillagenetwork-jewish-israeli-news.blogspot.com/2013/04/former-british-pm-margaret-thatcher.html

  

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Oxford University Students to Vote on Israel Boycott

Oxford University Students to Vote on Israel Boycott

By Arutz Sheva staff

First Publish: 2/25/2013, 2:38 PM

Posters calling to boycott Israel

 

 

Students at Britain’s prestigious Oxford University will vote this week on a highly controversial motion to boycott Israel.

The Oxford University Student’s Union (OUSU) is set to meet Wednesday to decide on a motion to join the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement “in protest of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and its hindrance of attempts to create a Palestinian state,” The Guardian reported. 

The vote comes following increased tensions on campus last week as British lawmaker George Galloway walked out of a lecture hall during a debate with an Israeli student, saying “I don’t recognize Israel and I don’t debate with Israelis,” after becoming aware of his opponent’s nationality.

“I refused this evening at Oxford University to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the apartheid state of Israel,” Galloway posted on his Facebook page following the incident.

One of the constitute colleges of Oxford University, Magdalen College, voted 39-3 against the motion.

“The boycott goes against everything the university stands for. The idea that we are not going to read your books or articles or hear your arguments on the basis of your nationality is ridiculous,” Henry Watson, a student at Magdalen College, told The Guardian.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/165598

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