The UK government is in breach of international law over failing to tackle extreme levels of poverty and destitution in the country, according to a scathing assessment made by the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.
It comes after the Joseph Rowntree Foundation recently released a report showing that almost 4 million people experienced destitution in 2022, including more than a million children.
Government data recently revealed that 14.4 million people lived in relative poverty in 2021-22 – a million more than the previous year.
With a cost of living crisis and soaring food and fuel prices as well as increasing housing costs, Olivier De Schutter, the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, slammed the UK’s woefully inadequate welfare system, citing research showing universal credit payments of £85 a week for single adults over 25 were “grossly insufficient” and described the UK’s main welfare system as “a leaking bucket”.
Shadow minister Imran Hussain quits Labour front bench over Starmer’s failure to call for a ceasefire in Gaza
“Over recent weeks, it has become clear that my view on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza differs substantially from the position you have adopted.”
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Labour leader Keir Starmer has so far resisted calls for a ceasefire from within his own party, including from members of his shadow cabinet as well as from the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham. The Labour leader said that the terrorist group Hamas would be “emboldened” by a ceasefire, four weeks after it killed 1,400 people in Israel.
Announcing his resignation on X, formerly Twitter, Hussain wrote in his letter: “Over recent weeks, it has become clear that my view on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza differs substantially from the position you have adopted.
“A ceasefire is essential to ending the bloodshed, to ensuring that enough aid can pass into Gaza and reach those most in need, and to help ensure the safe return of the Israeli hostages.”
He added that the cutting of food, water, power, and medicine to Palestinians in Gaza is an act of collective punishment that violates international law and is a ‘clear war crime’.
Over 26,000 people have been injured and around 1.5 million displaced out of a total population of 2.3 million since Israel started its war on Gaza on October 7. Israeli forces have also killed over 150 people in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The debris following an Israeli airstrike in Jabalya. Photo: Quds News Network
Gaza faced yet another communications black out on Monday, November 6 even as reports emerged of Israeli planes bombing more residential areas and killing dozens of civilians on the 31st day of its war.
On Sunday night and on Monday morning, Israeli forces bombed over 450 Palestinian locations in the besieged Palestinian territory, killing dozens of Palestinians, including children and women.
The total number of Palestinians killed has crossed the 10,000 mark and over 26,000 have been injured in Israel’s indiscriminate bombings and ground offensive. Over 1,000 Palestinians are also reported missing and are likely to be buried in the debris created by Israel’s war planes targeting residential areas, hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health says the confirmed number of Palestinians murdered by Israel since the beginning of the Israeli genocide campaign in Gaza has climbed to 9,770, with thousands of people, including children, missing.#GazaGenocide#ceasefireInGazaNOWpic.twitter.com/hZXQHbv5YH
Israel has also launched a ground offensive inside Gaza. Its forces claimed on Monday that they have divided the besieged Palestinian territory into two. They also repeated their ultimatum asking all residents to leave northern Gaza.
66 Palestinians were reportedly killed when Israel bombed residential buildings in Deir al-Balah and al-Zawayida in central Gaza on Monday.
Internet services and telecommunications shut down in Gaza for the third time since October 7. Israel on Monday once again disrupted the power supply to Al-Shifa hospital. The largest hospital in Gaza has faced repeated attacks in its vicinity and is running out of fuel, medicine, and space, caused both by the Israeli blockade and due to the surge in the number of patients.
There are over 40,000 people seeking refuge in the hospital at the moment according to Al-Jazeera.
More killed in occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem
Israeli occupation forces have also killed 155 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 7, two of them on Monday.
One of the Palestinians killed was just 16 years old. Israel alleged that he attacked two of their soldiers, wounding them seriously with a knife before he was shot dead, Wafa reported.
Over 70 other Palestinians were arrested from different parts of the occupied West Bank by Israeli occupation forces in late night raids conducted on Sunday and early morning on Monday.
The arrested include activist Ahed Tamimi who was arrested from her house near Ramallah in a raid.
Israeli forces detain non-violent resistance icon Ahed Tamimi. In ‘18 Israeli forces detained her after she slapped an Israeli soldier harassing her in her home after her cousin was shot in the head. Her father was detained a week ago. Israel has detained 2000+ 🇵🇸s in past month https://t.co/4s2vphQ0Rt
On Sunday evening, an Israeli drone attacked a car in southern Lebanon, killing three children and injuring an elderly woman, Al-Mayadeen reported.
Hezbollah responded to the death of Lebanese children by firing rockets inside a northern Israeli town killing at least one person.
Blinken threatened countries and groups in the region against any attempts to intervene in the war in Gaza. The US also announced the deployment of a nuclear submarine in the region on Monday.
The US has already increased the presence of its armed forces in the region following Israeli aggression in Gaza and has supplied armaments to Israel for the war.
Demonstrators gathered in front of the White House during a rally in support of Gaza in Washington, D.C. on November 4, 2023. (Photo: Oliver Doulliery/AFP via Getty Images)
“We came here to let our voices be heard,” said one demonstrator in Washington, D.C. “Every human is entitled to basic human rights, not killing kids, not torturing people.”
This is a developing story… Please check back for possible updates…
Huge crowds of protesters filled the streets of Washington, D.C. and other U.S. cities on Saturday to demand a cease-fire in Israel’s war on Hamas, which has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip over the past month.
“We came here to let our voices be heard and our hearts and hoping we’ll change the way people see this conflict,” 70-year-old Manar Ghanayem toldThe Washington Post in the nation’s capitol, where demonstrators gathered in and around Freedom Plaza.
“Every human is entitled to basic human rights, not killing kids, not torturing people,” added Ghanayem, who traveled from North Carolina to march in D.C. with more than a dozen friends and family members, including young grandchildren.
Ghanayem also said that she voted for U.S. President Joe Biden in 2020 but was outraged by his response to the war. As she put it, “I can’t believe Biden is turning a blind eye to this and gave Israel the green light.”
Rather than advocating for a cease-fire, the Biden administration has pushed for “humanitarian pauses” in what critics are calling Israel’s “genocidal” air and ground assault of Gaza—launched after a Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel on October 7.
After speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the beginning of the war, Biden said that “my administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering.” He quickly asked Congress for $14.3 billion for the Israeli war effort, on top of the typical $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid.
“Americans do not support the genocide in Palestine, we do not support the occupation, yet we are being robbed of our own resources in order to fund this oppression,” said CodePink organizer Nour Jaghama earlier this week. Her anti-war group is a part of a broad coalition that supported Saturday’s demonstrations in the United States.
“We need to show our government that we are outraged at them for forcing us to participate in such a disgusting and devastating attack on humanity,” Jaghama continued. “As Americans, we have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Palestine to fight for them however we can.”
Jaghama also delivered a speech on Saturday. According to CodePink:
“One of the most prominent questions we need to ask ourselves is: Why we can hear these words and firsthand accounts from Gaza yet the genocide still continues? Why do only 18 representatives and ONLY ONE senator support a cease-fire? And why does President Biden insist on funding Netanyahu’s genocide?” she asked the crowd…
She then aimed her questions directly at President Biden: “Is this how you want to be remembered? A genocidal, destructive, warmonger? Shame! Look at this crowd, clearly the American people do not agree with your genocidal plans. You must call for a cease-fire now or solidify your position as one of the most inhumane presidents in American history. The American people demand a cease-fire, an end to the occupation, and the full liberation of Palestine.”
Demonstrators in D.C. carried signs with messages like “Stop U.S.-funded genocide,” “Cease-Fire Now,” and “Let Gaza Live!”
Sharing a photo from the D.C. gathering on social media, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said: “Solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of people nationwide who marched in support of a #CeasefireNOW. Our pro-peace, pro-humanity movement is strong and it is growing daily.”
St. Louis DC South Korea Germany Norway South Africa Puerto Rico England Japan & so many more places
The Saturday actions followed weeks of protests at places including congressional offices and major transit stations. Jewish Voice for Peace noted Monday that “Jewish people all throughout the United States are protesting in unprecedented numbers against Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the United States’ unwavering support.”
Protesters, supporters, and journalists shared updates on social media.
— Professor Kamel Hawwash بروفيسور كامل إسحق الحواش (@kamelhawwash) November 4, 2023
Olympia, Washington:
Really incredible turnout in Olympia, WA today. It was POURING all morning. Some of the streets leaving Seattle looked like literal lakes. Didn’t matter. The people are here, demanding a #ceasefireNOW. #FreePestine#ceasefirepic.twitter.com/q7oFXzJaqW
Officials in Israel say Palestinian militants are holding around 240 hostages and more than 1,500 Israelis have been killed over the past four weeks. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel’s war on the besieged enclave has killed over 9,400 Palestinians. Amid a surge in settler violence, 133 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank.
Israel has faced global criticism for cutting off the people of Gaza from food, water, fuel, and medicine as well as bombing homes, schools, medical facilities, religious buildings, and a refugee camp. Some citizens of Israel have joined in worldwide demands for International Criminal Court action on “escalating Israeli war crimes and genocide.”
Pro-Palestinian protests were also held around the world on Saturday, including in Berlin, Germany; Dhaka, Bangladesh; London, England; Paris, France; Milan, Italy; Santiago, Chile; and Tokyo, Japan. Scientist and organizer Lucky Tran said on social media that “we are witnessing the biggest global anti-war protests since the Iraq War in 2003.”
In the United Kingdom, tens of thousands of people blocked London’s Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus, then marched to Trafalgar Square. Al Jazeera reported that “protesters held ‘Freedom for Palestine’ placards and chanted ‘cease-fire now’ and ‘in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians.'”
Some 13 of the 31 members of Labour’s shadow cabinet have received donations from a prominent pro-Israel lobby group or individual funder, it can be revealed.
The list of recipients includes party leader Keir Starmer, his deputy Angela Rayner, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, and even the former vice-chair of Labour Friends of Palestine, Lisa Nandy, who is now shadow international development minister.
These donations were provided by Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), a pro-Israel lobby group which takes MPs on “fact-finding” missions to the region, and Sir Trevor Chinn, a multi-millionaire business tycoon and long-time pro-Israel lobbyist.
More than half of Starmer’s shadow cabinet are listed as parliamentary supporters or officers of LFI.
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Pro-Israel lobbying
Sir Trevor Chinn is a British multi-millionaire who has spent decades working in the motor industry, chairing such organisations as the AA, the RAC, and Kwikfit.
Chinn is also a longstanding pro-Israel lobbyist. Since the 1980s, he has funded LFI and Conservative Friends of Israel and played a leading role in groups such as Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) and the Jewish Leadership Council.
The Guardiandescribed BICOM in 2009 as “Britain’s most active pro-Israeli lobbying organisation – which flies journalists to Israel on fact-finding trips and organises access to senior government figures”.
It added that the organisation had “received nearly £1.4m in two years from a billionaire donor whose father made a fortune manufacturing arms in Israel”, referring to Poju Zabludowicz, a London-based business tycoon.
Starmer received a £50,000 donation from Chinn during his campaign for the Labour leadership in 2020 – and failed to declare this until after he’d won the election.
Declassified has found that Chinn has donated to eight other members of the shadow cabinet, including Rayner, Lammy, Reeves, Streeting, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson, shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall, and shadow environment secretary Steve Reed.
