British MP receives threats for pro-Israel support

http://twitter.com/#!/Jerusalem_Post/status/184848448527400960

From Jerusalem Post:

A British MP says he fears for his life after receiving death threats for  defending Israel in an exchange with a constituent.

The Conservative MP  for Henley, John Howell, has been offered police protection for meetings with  voters after an email exchange with the constituent was posted online.

Pro-Palestinian activist Harry Fear, from Watlington in  Oxfordshire, sent Howell an email on March 10 asking what he was doing “to see  that Israel halts the military actions that are taking place in defiance of  international law and basic human decency.”

A  photograph of a building  exploding accompanied the email with a caption stating: “Only a few hours ago,  Israel felt it necessary to inflict this destruction and death on the [Gaza]  Strip.”

Responding to the email, Howell said: “And what is your position,  Harry, on the 100 rockets which have landed in Israel over the weekend?” Fear  posted the question, together with the MP’s reply, on his blog and Facebook  page. He included the MP’s contact details and instructed people write to Howell “civilly, expressing discontent with his conduct.”

The Conservative MP  said he received around 30 emails; some were “worrying.”

“There are a  huge number of emails from pro-Palestinian and Arab fanatics, some from the UK  and some clearly not, some equally threatening,” Howell said.

One email  said: “You will suffer the consequences of this corruption and  callousness.”

There was also a series of emails from some calling himself “Jihad Alshamie,” who told him: “It is people like you who deserve to  die.”

More from the Daily Standard: 

Mr Howell said he had received about 30 emails, some of which he described as “worrying” while others used language not suitable in a family newspaper.

One read: “John, you ugly son of a gun, how much do you get to protect Israel’s interests, u corrupt, smug-looking English twerp?

“Your (sic) nothing in the eyes of God. Carry on supporting Israel, u fiend of England. This place is a hot mess and the people here are the slime of the devil.”A woman claimed to have cursed Mr Howell and said: “You will suffer the consequences of this corruption and callousness.”

Mr Howell said: “There has been a series of emails from fictitious addresses with names such as Jihad Alshamie, which gets you worried straight away, and lines such as ‘it is people like you who deserve to die’.

“There are a huge number of emails from pro-Palestinine and Arab fanatics, some from the UK and some clearly not, some equally threatening.”

He referred to Labour MP Stephen Timms, who was stabbed twice at a constituency surgery in 2010 by a woman angry at his vote for the Iraq war.

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2012/03/28/british-mp-receives-threats-for-pro-israel-support/