Layla Moran embarrasses herself over Israel

Oh dear. It seems that Layla Moran has done it again. As Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesman, she has chiefly served to undermine her party’s carefully calibrated equivocations on tactical voting and rejoining the EU. But today the Oxford West MP has outdone herself with her response to the unfolding horrors in the Middle East, where dozens of gunmen from Hamas appear to have infiltrated southern Israel. Following a surprise Palestinian attack that saw hundreds of rockets hit Israel from Gaza, Moran decided to tweet the following:

Deeply concerned by reports from Gaza and Israel. Civilians must be protected, I am especially horrified to hear about hostage taking, and all violence condemned. This is a significant escalation. I can’t see how it ends well for anyone.

Talk about mealy-mouthed. No condemnation or identification of the perpetrators, only trite clichés about both sides. Both Labour and the Tories have already denounced Hamas, yet for the Lib Dems mere ‘concern’ is enough to describe the execution of civilians in their homes.