Labour finally angry with Israel and it’s business as usual
JVL Introduction
Two Labour MPs were refused entry to Israel and Labour was finally “outraged”. We can here Emily Thornberry speaking about this here. But since then, what action has the Labour government taken? Former Labour – and then Independent – Parliamentary candidate Faiza Shaheen writes about the lameness of this Labour government’s response to the horrendous barbarism being meted out to Palestinians by Israel.
It is worth noting that even Margaret Thatcher put an arms embargo on Israel because of Lebanon, an embargo that lasted from 1982 – 1994 and Tony Blair stopped arms sales to Israel during the Second Intifada – albeit keeping quiet about it. See this Middle East Eye article.
Not only is Labour doing nothing but in the week after the incident, the government welcomed Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar. To say this is not good enough would be the understatement of the decade .
LL
This article was originally published by The New Arab on Wed 23 Apr 2025. Read the original here.
The UK Labour Party doesn’t care about Palestinians
UK Labour’s inaction following its MPs Yuan Yang & Abtisam Mohamed being deported by Israel shows it will never stand against the mass murder of Palestinians. Years of seeing the attitude of this leadership and many of the candidates means that I can confidently conclude that the Labour Party is now in the hands of people who value Palestinians lives as less than others
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Labour is another party of imperialism, regardless of who leads it, so none of this should come as a surprise.
The Labour Party has always been the “iron fist of capitalism in a velvet glove” and the biggest obstacle to change for the working class. Throughout its history, It has been a supporter of imperialist colonisation, and arming perpetrators of the Palestinian holocaust. How anyone can have any faith in this “Party”, or even remain a member, is beyond me and many more. The The US-backed Zionist scum just murdered another 50 Palestinians today. They have bombed Beirut today, creating martyrs and many wounded. Meanwhile, the “Labour” Government remains an active participant in the mass murder of innocents, without a care. Just like Blair in Iraq and Clement Attlee`s secret involvement in proliferation of Nuclear weapons after the second world war – Labour is a collaborator in genocide and murder around the world. As Jackie Walker said live from the Pro-Palestinian camp opposite the US Embassy in London recently, the Labour Party needs to be smashed. It is no different to Reform or the Tories.
Sickening.
And to Not Bastani, surely the history above (Thatcher and even Blair embargoing arms to Israel after previous murderous incursions) shows that Labour DIDN’T HAVE TO BE THIS BAD, even within the straitjacket of the ‘Western alliance’?
I am waiting to see what Starmer will do about Trump proscribing the UK’s leading human rights lawyers who presumably used to be Sir K’s friends and colleagues, but have had the nerve to support international law and the ICC’s arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. Nothing? Or something even worse? Seem to be the alternatives judging by the PM’s record so far.
Hi Amanda,
Labour under Blair, who like Gallant is also a war criminal, might of once embargoed Israel, but that doesn’t mean its therefore not a party of imperialism. We only have to look into its origins and its stances on various issues to see this. We should therefore be able to conclude, that its the party thats the problem, not any leader. To demonstrate how pro imperialism Labour are, think of what they did to Corbyn, a very mild social democrat who once led the party – the ruling class absolutely bricked it and did everything they could to stop him being the leader. A mild social democrat, who just very gently, almost like an Anglican vicar, called some of their ways into question, not demanding an actual overthrow of capitalism.
And of course, various left wing celebs, like Jones and the fully automated luxury communists, entertained this, that is, that JC was an antisemite etc.
I’m not disagreeing with your general points, Not Bastani (good name BTW). Labour under Attlee, Bevin & Morrison decided to go with NATO and much else follows. I’m just pointing out that even within that terrible commitment there is leeway: Wilson didn’t join the Vietnam war, Blair suspended arms to Israel on occasion. Incidentally Jewish Voice for Peace is committed to ‘compelling and forcing’ a turnaround in Western foreign policy support for Israel and of course I want this to happen. Agreed also that the UK media class were servile and cowardly in spreading (and pretending to believe) the lies about Corbyn. I’m glad though that some JVL members are forgiving of Jones because unfortunately he’s one of the few voices we’ve got. Yasmin Alibhai Brown is more principled of course but she too has had her wobbles in the past…
Thanks for your reply Amanda. Ok, lets get into this. You state;”I’m just pointing out that even within that terrible commitment there is leeway: Wilson didn’t join the Vietnam war”
Not directly, but Wilson is quoted as saying “I wholly understand the deep concern you must feel at the need to do anything possible to reduce losses of young Americans in and over Viet Nam….our reservations about this operation will not affect our continuing support for your policy over Viet Nam.”
Further, the above stance of Labour under Wilson regarding Vietnam led to Bertrand Russell publicly tearing up his membership.
You state “Blair suspended arms to Israel on occasion”.
Good for him, thats the very least he can do, but it doesn’t get away from the problem of him having the blood of about 1 million Iraqis on his hands, as well as thousands of dead and injured in Afghanistan, and both those countries have been plundered, not dissimilar to what we’re seeing in Syria and Libya. Interestingly, the Labour Party have been trying to rehabilitate odious characters like Alastair Campbell, a man who was very much complicit in Blairs crimes.
“Agreed also that the UK media class were servile and cowardly in spreading (and pretending to believe) the lies about Corbyn”
Yes, including the fully automated/literally communists of Noravirus Media. Having said that, we need to move from Corbyn.
Good for Owen, but again, it doesn’t get away from his track record of being a fanboy for Western interventionism.