“Despite widespread efforts to silence debate within the Labour Party, both in parliament and across the country, tens of thousands of party members have demonstrated their opposition to the carnage in Gaza.”
By Richard Price
For most of the last 75 years, British Labour leaders have been happy to be described as supporters and “friends” of Israel. Most, however, have felt the need to balance this with a limited degree of even-handedness towards the Palestinians.
Not so Keir Starmer, who declared in February 2020 that “I support Zionism without qualification”. At Labour Friends of Israel’s annual dinner in November 2021 he equated anti-Zionism with antisemitism, and praised former Israeli Labour leaders without irony as “comrades in the struggle for equality, peace and freedom” – including Golda Meir who denied Palestinians’ existence, claiming “there was no such thing as Palestinians”. He repeated the colonialist trope that under their leadership Israel “made the desert flower”.
He went further, paying tribute to Israel’s “commitment to the rule of law”, despite its manifest and longstanding breaches of international law. He claimed that under his leadership “every Jew will count” – a statement rendered a mockery by the disciplining and expulsion of dozens of Jewish Labour Party members who are critics of Israel.
Since his infamous claim on LBC in October that Israel “has the right” to cut off power and water from Gaza, there has never been any doubt where Keir Starmer would stand on the current conflict. At every stage, he has been in lockstep with both Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden. His shift towards saying that Labour will support a “sustainable ceasefire” will remain a dead letter so long as he supports Israel’s military goals.
Yet all the evidence is that broad swathes of Labour members and the British public support a ceasefire. A poll in October found 76% in favour, with only 8% opposing it. Despite widespread efforts to silence debate within the Labour Party, both in parliament and across the country, tens of thousands of party members have demonstrated their opposition to the carnage in Gaza.
For this reason, we are calling for an independent Labour Bloc on the National March for Palestine on Saturday, 13th January. It will assemble from 11.45 am outside St Edmund, King and Martyr Church, at the corner of George Yard and Lombard Street, London EC3V.
The contingent is sponsored by the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, Momentum, Labour Women Leading, Labour and Palestine, Labour CND, Arise – a Festival of Left Ideas and Welsh Labour Grassroots, along with supportive websites Labour Hub, Labour Outlook and Left Horizons.
The contingent will be addressed by MPs John McDonnell, Diane Abbott and Bell Ribeiro-Addy.
- The Labour Bloc at the National March for Palestine is assembling from 11.45 am outside St Edmund, King and Martyr Church, at the corner of George Yard and Lombard Street, London EC3.
- Richard Price is a member of the Leyton & Wanstead Constituency Labour Party (CLP).
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