A time to keep your peace
IT’S bad enough, as a politician, to make an error when speaking out. It’s even worse when you didn’t need to speak in the first place.
So in future Guernsey might not be so keen to speak out on international conflict and declarations of war – why do so when you have a chance of alienating one side or another?
The Policy & Resources Committee has previously been invited to clarify, even row back, on the comment that ‘Guernsey stands unequivocally with Israel’ made in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attacks on 7 October. It has refused, one senses more in the hope that the issue over the comments would calm over, rather than a desire to double down.
There is no doubt that the meaning was misinterpreted, certainly when a public protest was organised, and some marchers made it their focus.
P&R president Deputy Peter Ferbrache said then: ‘We stand with Israel unequivocally against these acts of terrorism.’ As the response to the terrorism led to all-out war, half that sentence was lost, leaving the senior committee apparently positioning the island where many felt uncomfortable.
People are not always expecting Guernsey to speak out on conflict situations where we have no direct involvement.
Maybe, as the States reflected yesterday, sometimes it is better to say nothing, than to become embroiled in an issue you don’t need to.