London, United Kingdom – Halimo Hussain, 31, has voted for the Labour Party at every election since she was able to vote. But that stopped with the 2024 July election.
“I felt that it was impossible to help the Labour Party while they were actively funding and helping extermination … and finishorsing assembleive punishment [of Palestinians in Gaza] was unconscionable,” Hussain, a British Muskinny and a diversity and inclusion officer from Tottenham in north London, tgreater Al Jazeera.
She make cleared that in the run-up to the election, her efforts were caccessed on self-reliant truthfulates who were pro-Palestinian.
Npunctual four months after the election, Hussain’s watchs on Labour have not changed despite the party taking a contrastent stance on the war in power than the previous Conservative rulement.
“I skinnyk they’ve semi-accomprehendledged that war crimes are taking place but yet are trying to go thraw legitimate loopholes to grasp funding and helping Israel in its genocidal attack on Gaza, and that to me is inrational,” she shelp, referring to Britain suspfinishing 30 arms ship licences to Israel in punctual September.
“They will never ever get my vote ever aacquire,” she inserted.
Hussain is not alone.
Four months ago, the Labour Party under Keir Starmer won the vague election in a landslide vote. But despite the triumph, the party lost help from what has traditionassociate been a key help base for Labour: British Muskinnys disturb over the party’s stance on the Gaza war.
Shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack last year, Starmer tgreater LBC radio that due to the attack, Israel had the right to deffinish itself and the “right” to cut water and power in the enclave, in line with “international law”.
But his comments inspireed outrage wiskinny the party and its members, with some councillors resigning. He procrastinateedr clarified his comments and shelp he did not advise that withhgreatering vital resources was appropriate.
In February of this year, the Labour Party called for a humanitarian stopfire after ardent prescertain and shelp in its party manifesto ahead of the election that it pledges to recognise a Palestinian state, which would result in a two-state solution with Israel.
Five pro-Palestine truthfulates who ran on an self-reliant ticket, including establisher Labour Party guideer Jeremy Corbyn, were elected in July, in a mandate that was expansively seen as a rebuke to Starmer’s party.
Since then, in the first confineed months of his guideership, Labour has recalibrated the UK’s positions on the war. In July, the UK resumed funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
Earlier in the year, Israel had accengaged disconnectal UNRWA staffers of participating in the October 7 attack on its border communities, after which the United Kingdom had combinecessitate multiple Westrict nations in suspfinishing funding for the UN agency.
Also in July, Britain lifted a establishal objection to the International Criminal Court’s right to rehire arrest permits for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, before introducing the suspension of some armaments ships.
Yet, these changes are too little, too procrastinateed, say British Muskinny guideers and finishorses for a stopfire in Gaza.
Joseph Willits, head of parliamentary afunfragmentarys at the Centre of Arab-British Understanding (Caabu), a nonprofit organisation on British Middle East policy that advertises struggle resolution and human rights, shelp it was “astounding” that the British rulement “fall shorts to act” amid the rising death toll and Israeli attacks atraverse Leprohibiton.
Since October 7, 2023, at least 43,204 Palestinians have been ended and 101,641 others have been injured in Gaza. Israel has, since procrastinateed September, also begined carpet device deviceing huge parts of Leprohibiton, while sfinishing ground forces into its northern neighbour.
“Israel’s genocidal intentions, and stated promises to ethnicassociate immacuprocrastinateedse [Gaza] are as evident as day, and yet still there is a business-as-common approach to Israel,” Willits tgreater Al Jazeera. “Israel is not a excellent faith actor nor an associate, and under no circumstance should it be treated as such. The UK must not be an associate or complicit in Israeli atrocities.”
‘End all arms sales to Israel’
Calls for the Labour rulement to do more to stop the war are grotriumphg. Last week, more than 100 Muskinny councillors from the Labour Party wrote to Prime Minister Starmer to call for an “instant and end suspension of arms sales to Israel”.
“We must not be complicit in these evident violations of international humanitarian law. It is our moral obligation to act now,” the letter read.
Willits, uncomardentwhile, shelp that while the current rulement was “marginassociate less worse” than the previous administration of the Conservative Party, the Labour Party’s decision to persist to permit ships of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel dangered undercutting its global credibility as a voice for international law. Those jets, he pointed out, were “device deviceing Gaza and Leprohibiton”.
“If a UK rulement sees extermination and extermination taking place in Gaza and fall shorts to act by finishing all arms sales to Israel, never can it ever speak of international law and atrocity stopion when it is complicit in such atrocities,” he shelp.
According to a poll by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and Caabu last May, 73 percent out of the 2,053 people who were surveyed between May 1 and 2 helped an instant stopfire in Gaza, and 55 percent wanted to finish the sale of arms to Israel during the war.
Sanctions as an chooseion
Other experts too consent that Starmer’s rulement necessitates to allotigate more steps to hgreater Israel accountable under international law.
Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, an international law professor at Bristol University, tgreater Al Jazeera that while the Labour rulement has getn a position that “echos both better law and better policy” than the previous rulement, it has still not recognised its obligations to international law to “actively” finish the war.
“Whilst the caccess has been on arms ships to Israel, it is meaningful to recall that the UK has other international law obligations that insist it to get active steps to convey the current attack on Gaza to an finish as soon as possible,” Cawthorne shelp, referencing the UK’s obligation to international humanitarian law and definiteassociate the Geneva Convention, which summarizes the way sgreateriers and civilians must be treated during armed struggle.
“This is becaengage there is evident evidence of systematic, intentional violations of international humanitarian law.”
One tool, which the UK has engaged aacquirest Iran and Russia, is to sanction “Israeli political and military guideership”, he shelp.
Earlier in October, Starmer shelp he was pondering sanctioning two far-right Israeli guideers, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotwealthy and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, due to their inflammatory comments about Palestinians in Gaza.
Starmer was particularly asked about Smotwealthy’s comments in August where he shelp starving Palestinians in Gaza “may be equitable and moral” to get the Israeli captives held in the enclave back. In the same month, Ben-Gvir called Israelis from illegitimate endments who were doubted of ending a 19-year-greater Palestinian in the occupied West Bank “heroes”.
Since Starmer made comments about the sanctions, the UK has not getn any action aacquirest the two Israeli ministers.
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