Israel releases UK Parliament`s doctored picture to justify attack

Justifying its assault on Gaza, the Israeli military tweeted a doctored picture of Britain`s Parliament under assault from a barrage of rockets, asking, "what if they were attacking your home?"

Jerusalem: Justifying its assault on Gaza, the Israeli military on Monday tweeted a doctored picture of Britain`s Parliament under assault from a barrage of rockets, asking, "what if they were attacking your home?"

The photo-shopped image, which was published today on the official Twitter feed of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), showed four rockets flying north over the Thames and about to crash into the Palace of Westminster, Britain`s Parliament. An explosion can be seen erupting from the roof of the building, while a large capitalised slogan reads: "What would you do?" The striking image appears to be in response to critics of Israel`s current ground assault on the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Israeli leaders say the operation is designed to stop Hamas rocket fire from the territory, but there have been accusations that its military chiefs are using disproportionate levels of force. The death toll in the two-week conflict today crossed 500 with a vast majority of the casualties being civilians including children. The photo-shoped picture, however, has not gone down well with some British MPs, who have slammed it as "propaganda". Andy Slaughter, a Labour MP and secretary of Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group, said: "It seems crass at best. The Israelis are past masters at propaganda. This will bring it home to Members that they have lost all sense of perspective and are out of control." "It is in very poor taste and I think that it will be entirely counterproductive," he was quoted as saying by The Telegraph. However, James Clappison MP, the Parliamentary Chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel, supported the advertisement. An IDF spokesman told the British daily that the picture had been devised by the military`s "interactive media branch" to convey the reality of life under Hamas rocket fire to a worldwide audience.