Labour needs to radically reorient its political approach to Israel argues Andy Gregg
If Labour is to even begin to win back support from large sections of Muslim and pro-Palestinian voters then Starmer and Lammy will have to break clearly from the Washington consensus on Gaza and forge an entirely different course. However, any attempt to set out to break with the pro-Israeli positions that they have hitherto supported would necessitate a comprehensive break with the Pro-Israeli views of large parts of the Labour Party. Before the election more than a third of the PLP were members of Labour Friends of Israel and the support for the Jewish Labour Movement is considerable compared to the support for Jewish Voice for Labour who represent those in the Jewish community who are anti-Zionist and critical of Israeli settler colonialism. A substantial number of JVL members have already been thrown out of the Party for alleged “anti-semitism”!
Lammy has made a few small gestures recently, promising to restore funding for the UNRWA in Gaza and to consider recognition of a Palestinian state at some unspecified future time. These are nowhere near what is needed to heal the rift caused by Starmer’s unequivocal support for Israel shortly after October 7th. His disastrous interview on LBC in which he appeared to suggest that Israel had a right to limit essential supplies, including water and electricity, to Gaza as part of Israel’s right to self-defence has opened up almost incurable wounds with large sections of the Muslim and Pro-Palestinian Left. In addition, Starmer and Lammy are far more likely to respond to the highly organised pro-Israeli lobby than to any pro-Palestinan positions. More recently, even the mildest threat by Starmer to consider an arms embargo on Israel has been condemned by Labour Against Antisemitism as exacerbating anti-Semitism.
Any real attempt to change the situation in Gaza and the Occupied Territories would have to include an immediate call for a ceasefire followed by Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a recognition and condemnation of the potentially genocidal nature of the IDF’s outrages in Gaza and Israeli Settler pogroms in the Occupied Territories. The Government’s rather vague recognition of the powers of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice but their denial of the Chief Prosecutor of ICC’s call for the arrest of members of Israel’s Government (as well as Hamas) are a clear concession to recent US lobbying. Unequivocal support for the ICC and ICJ and an agreement to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if the opportunity occurs should be the basis of UK policy.
An explicit condemnation of the violent abuse faced by Palestinians in Israel’s prisons should also be made. B’Tselem, the highly respected human rights group, has concluded that Israeli prisons should now be designated as “torture camps”. Appeals for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza should also acknowledge the rather larger number of Palestinians (nearly 10,000) held effectively as hostages in these dreadful prison conditions many under administrative detention without charge – a number of whom are children. Reliable estimates suggest that up to 40% of Palestinian men have been arrested at least once in their lives and this use of imprisonment is a key part of the continuing Israeli occupation.
Serious disturbances occurred recently when Israeli Right-wing protesters stormed two IDF bases after nine reservists were arrested following an army investigation into the “substantial abuse of a Palestinian detainee”. Some Israelis are now effectively rioting over the right to rape Palestinian prisoners without any intervention of the law.
The immediate recognition of an independent Palestinian state (with the same rights to self defence as any other UN member state) will also have to be on the agenda along with an end to any arms sales to Israel. There should be a pledge of substantial aid to rebuild Gaza and a comprehensive boycott of Israeli settlement goods leading to a wider set of sanctions on Israel if it doesn’t move immediately to a ceasefire. A key issue is to support findings of the ICJ that the occupation of the West Bank is illegal and that all settlement activity needs not only to cease but be disbanded. The ICJ judgment has called on states to stop aiding Israel’s unlawful presence in Palestinian territories.
Will Starmer and Lammy do any of this? Of course the Labour Government will be under some pressure to act from Independent MPs as well as Greens and Scottish Nationalists (and even Lib Dems) but its huge majority and its continual threats to any Left or pro-Palestinian MPs that remain in the PLP make this highly unlikely.
This of course means that, in the long run, the Labour Party has lost significant support from two of its most loyal constituencies – Muslim voters and Pro-Palestinian internationalists on the Left. Both of these groups hitherto supported the Party but are now looking to vote Green or Independent. Whilst Labour has its current huge majority in Parliament this will not be a major concern for it. But as times get harder and the electoral map tightens, the loss of these core sections of it traditional support will become increasingly damaging. Conversely the Conservative Party is already outbidding Labour in seeking the support of hard-line pro-Israeli opinion (both Jewish and non-Jewish). For all of these reasons the Labour Government’s continuing largely uncritical support for Israel is not in its longer term interest.