Starmer still on the hook on Gaza
JVL Introduction
Starmer’s failure to call out Israel as he calls out Hamas is wearing thin. The letter from Labour MPs to their constituents, referred to in this piece and reproduced at the end of the article, like that Labour amendment on a Ceasefire, refuses to condemn the attacks by Israel as they do the October 7th attack by Hamas. The letter includes this paragraph: “The past few months have seen an appalling terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel and the taking of hostages, followed by intolerable loss of Palestinian life and a dire humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. We’ve all been shocked and appalled by the heart-breaking loss of life we’ve seen in the Middle East. I share the pain and anger we all feel at the level of suffering this conflict has brought about.” (my emph)
This is reminiscent of media framing in which Israelis are killed by Hamas (“designated a terrorist organisation by the UK and other governments”) whereas Palestinians “die” and no responsibility is laid at Israel. Starmer’s determined pragmatism is not cutting it with a public that craves a moral stand on a genocide unfolding before our eyes.
LL
This article was originally published by The Guardian on Mon 26 Feb 2024. Read the original here.
A faultline has opened in Keir Starmer’s pragmatic politics – and this time none of the usual fixes will work
Gaza is an issue that Labour cannot simply finesse away. It is about real life, real death and the sympathies of millions
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Starmer could/would not support the SNP motion because it included condemning ‘collective punishment’, an illegal act under the Geneva conventions and thus condemn Israel as an illegal state actor. Starmer’s letter fails to explain any motivation by the US and its lap dog, the UK. The continued support for Israel by the main imperialist powers is motivated by their desperate need to control the Middle East states and whole area in the fear of an uprising of the Arab masses who hate their dictatorial rulers. The only way the Palestinians can break out of their isolation is through another Arab Spring. There have been massive demonstrations in Jordan for example and now the Houthis in Yemen who say they have mended their splits for the sake of the Palestinians. It is necessary for us to keep up the pressure in demonstrations and for JVL to enlarge the Jewish bloc as much as possible while campaigning to stop the labelling of anti Zionists as terrorists. For unconditional but critical support of all resistance to oppression in Palestine and Gaza!
Good luck to Andrew Feinstein in his efforts to unseat Starmer.
I see that Starmer describes himself as ‘Leader of the Opposition’.
What has he actually opposed?
We all well know, Starmer is in the “employ” of the Zionist State: ideologically, he supports its continued colonization of Palestine. He is complicit in the slaughter and displacement of the Palestinians con the false pretext of allowing the colonizers “right to defend itself”. He supports arming the murderous regime and is fully behind American and European States supplying logistical support to hold up the rotten Zionist entity. Far from being “anti-Semitic”, he, like all Zionists, insults Judaism by using it as a cloak to justify colonial expansion and murder. He is a complete fraud and a liar. He represents the Zionist State in Parliament. Good luck to Andrew Feinstein.
That was a very nuanced reading by Nesrine Malik of where the Labour Leadership are at. But I think last week the party was much more blunt. It has no interest in having a more politically effective call for immediate ceasefire made in the house of commons. And will do whatever it takes to stop Israel being accused of collective punishment.
FAIR WARNING
The extremists are calling for a ceasefire
The moderates are supporting genocide
It’s not Islamophobic to say Islam is horrendous
But it’s definitely anti-Semitic if you’re Jewish
And critical of Israel. Lobbying
Parliament peacefully is the same
As throwing a brick through someone’s window
Or threatening to behead them. Holding
Up a picture is siding with the terrorists
Saying from the river is a racist way of speaking
Stop pretending you don’t know this
It’s the message in the media. Behave
And be responsible, don’t march or stand
In solidarity with others
Confine yourselves to whispers
Or face the consequences
Of a Western-style democracy
We will wilfully ignore you
Make arrests if you continue
What this awful episode tells me is that we cannot trust most of our leading politicians and they are openly complicit in the most appalling barbarism.
What can we make of a Leader of the Opposition who phones the President of a foreign state, currently accused of Genocide to ask permission to table a motion in our House of Commons ?
I am a practising Christian and little six year Hind Rajab is constantly in my mind. I remember when I was six years old, what a small fragile body I had at that age. Can you imagine the terror of being trapped in a car for hours with your dead relatives ? To have hope that a rescue mission coordinated with the Israelis will end your suffering only to see the two paramedics sent to rescue you murdered inside their ambulance ?
Why doesn’t everyone explode with rage and anguish at this horror ?
If Hind Rajab had been a White European girl in Ukraine we surely would have done.
Doesn’t the life and death of Hind Rajab matter ?
How can we even think of voting for a leader of the Labour Party complicit in this horror ?
Still peddling the ‘Two State Solution’ when every Israeli leader (not to mention their UK ambassador) has made it clear that that isn’t going to happen.
The Labour Party is a dead end. Enough said.
If we look at this in a different way, perhaps we shd see Nesrine Malik’s article as simply a continuation of the Guardian’s unabating attack on Labour which, until the advent of Starmer, was the only party likely to implement the Guardian’s liberal agenda. When Corbyn was Labour leader, the Guardian undermined him editorially and in its features by amplifying the bogus accusations of anti-Semitism made against him and his party. Now that Starmer is in charge, the paper has moved seamlessly from accusations of anti-Semitism to accusations of Islamophobia. The simple fact is that the Guardian and its columnists do not like Labour. They have forfeited their credibility on these issues.
Starmer was elected to be leader of the Labour Party on ten pledges. Once elected, he negated all his pledges.
Starmer’s declaration of eight bulleted points in bold to his constituents is no more genuine than the earlier ten pledges which he abandoned.
By not so amazing as if coincidence, the rot from Starmer is much the same as what my Conservative constituency MP talks down to us with. Both are compliant with the misleading outline set by the establishment mass media.
The oppressed, dispossessed, imprisoned and murdered (over 75 years) indigenous people and the essential UN agencies are held to vastly higher standards than the heavily armed-up and free to be genocidal State of Israel.
You could not make it up. Our establishment politicians and mass media do. Any deviation from the establishment fiction is falsely labelled ‘antisemitism’.
Israel is allowed to inflict collective revenge on the indigenous people by a factor of some thirty times the direct deaths (plus starvation plus destruction of homes and hospitals etc) when compared to the 7 October revenge raid which our dishonest establishment politicians and media are so fixated on.
It’s the arrogance that I find so offensive. ‘We need .. whatever I say to look as if I care’.
The failure to acknowledge the I CJ ruling is the most alarming for, to take that seriously parliament would need to actually do something like stop arms sales, sanction Israeli weapons factories, expel the Ambassador. Freeze Israel assets. Meanwhile Starmer (and the Speaker and Sunak) still meet with a probable war criminal for him to write a UK parliamentary motion. Extraordinary times.