UK’s colonial past, the present and Palestine solidarity
JVL Introduction
This overview of Britain’s role in the establishment of Israel and ongoing government support for that State outlines Britain’s culpability along with the waning of support from the people that not even October 7th reversed. This is longer than our usual posts at c 20-25 minutes reading time but provides important information in one place.
“Supporting Palestinian rights in the UK requires acknowledging and criticising the colonial crimes of the British Empire, which is something the British Establishment is not prepared to do. Palestinians therefore continue to be another victim of British elite Orientalist views rooted in an imperialist mindset.
This is not the same, however, for the British public. …opinion polls show that support for Israel and pride in the British Empire have both declined in the past few decades.”.
This article was originally published by Security In Context on Mon 21 Apr 2025. Read the original here.
In Britain, the solidarity campaign for Palestinian rights clashes directly with empire mythology
Abstract: In many Western societies there is a very visible disjuncture in political attitudes between entrenched elite support for Israel and growing public support for Palestinian rights, which is highlighting a severe democratic deficit. This article maps this trend in Britain, the country responsible for erasing Palestine from the map during its colonial mandate rule. It argues that British Establishment support for Israel is rooted in its pride in the history of the British Empire; this drives its role now as a facilitator of Israeli apartheid and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. But this is not the same for the British public, which has shown a marked decrease in favourable attitudes towards Israel over the past few decades – a process that has not faltered despite Hamas’s October 7 attack. This has driven the increase of solidarity activism in Britain, which has become a key hub in the global movement fo Palestinian rights, despite attempts to intimidate and criminalise it.
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