“Like apartheid South Africa before it, Israel must be turned into a pariah state internationally.”
By Matt Willgress
Israel’s genocidal onslaught on Gaza has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, including 18,000 children. Key workers have been targeted – with 166 journalists and media workers, 120 academics, 1,580 health workers and over 224 humanitarian aid workers killed since 2023. People have been deliberately starved – and then killed as they queued for food. As Palestine Solidarity Campaign Chair Louise Regan has put it, “Israel is unleashing new horrors [and] new levels of barbarity that still do not create a red line for our political leaders to end their support for Israel, including military cooperation.”
This is the context to the increasingly unpopular, and still genocide-arming, Keir Starmer cordially hosting Israeli President and war criminal Isaac Herzog recently at Downing Street. (A week later he was hosting another mass murderer, Donald Trump – it’s true you can tell a lot about someone from the company they keep.)
This week, Britain has belatedly recognised a state of Palestine, but now we need to up the pressure for meaningful action.
In this context, in response to the intensification of the genocide against Gaza, the recent TUC Congress passing a strong motion that exposed the utter and ongoing complicity of the Starmer-led Government in Israel’s illegal war against the people of Gaza, including by continuing to export weapons and military technology, such as parts for F-35 fighter jets.
Yet, as the TUC motion noted, “Britain, as a party to the Genocide Convention, has obligations to prevent and punish genocide.”
In particular, the union movement further added its support to the growing calls on new Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper to “immediately end all arms trade and military collaboration with Israel.”
Furthermore, and importantly, the TUC called for “implementing a total ban on all trade which aids or assists Israel’s violations of international law including with Israel’s illegal settlements.”
Now, in the unions and beyond, is a time to turn these words into action. This means that those who support Palestinian rights within and without the Labour Party must also both amplify and build on the demands of the TUC, calling on the Government to:
“a. take meaningful action to secure an immediate, complete, and permanent ceasefire with full access for food and aid delivery into Gaza, an end to the siege and the release of hostages.
b. implement international court rulings and immediately recognise the State of Palestine contributing to a two-state solution.
c. immediately end all arms trade and military collaboration with Israel in line with international law.
d. implement a total ban on all trade which aids or assists Israel’s violations of international law including with Israel’s illegal settlements.
e. repeal the authoritarian proscription of Palestine Action under counter-terrorism laws and uphold and strengthen the right to peaceful protest following the arrest of activists, including Ben Jamal, on peaceful Palestine Solidarity Campaign marches.”
The demands on trade and arms here link clearly to the growing Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign growing across the country, At least 13 local councils have announced plans to divest from complicit companies, the Co-op became the first British supermarket to ban all Israeli goods from its shelves, and thousands of people have closed Barclays accounts because of these campaigns.
Like apartheid South Africa before it, Israel must be turned into a pariah state internationally and BDS campaigns, alongside our inspirational and continuing massive marches for Palestine, plus building massive support for the growing demands for the Israeli Ambassador to be kicked out of Britain (see petition link below) and many more actions and initiatives can help hasten that day.
Free, free Palestine!
- Add your name at https://bit.ly/expelisraelsambassador
- Join a public event with Palestine’s Ambassador taking place during Labour Party Conference: Palestine – the Defining Issue of Our Time. 4.30pm Saturday, September 27. Register here. The national demonstration for Palestine in Liverpool on 27 September assembles at noon in St George’s Plateau
- The Red Weekly Column will appear each Monday on Labour Outlook from one of our regular socialist contributors.
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