Your Party MP Zarah Sultana speaks at a demonstration organised by CND, Stop the War, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Muslim Association of Britain, Palestinian Forum in Britain and Friends of Al-Aqsa, in London to call for an end to Iran war, March 2026
YOUR Party MP Zarah Sultana said “good riddance” to the departing Keir Starmer today.
The Coventry South MP, suspended from Labour by Sir Keir for challenging the two-child benefit cap, said that “history will judge Keir Starmer as a man who lied his way to the top of the Labour Party.”
She accused him of using that power to evoke Enoch Powell with his “island of strangers” speech, keeping children in poverty, attacking disabled people, scapegoating refugees, stripping back civil liberties, and handing our public services to Palantir.
“A man who gave the top diplomatic job to the ‘best pal’ of a convicted paedophile, said Israel has the right to cut off water and electricity to Gaza, rolled out the red carpet for Israeli war criminals, and kept the weapons flowing to the Israeli military as it committed genocide. Good riddance,” she added.
Green Party leader Zack Polanski called for “a bold change of direction” after Sir Keir’s departure.
He said: “Starmer lost the confidence of the country because of his abject failure to challenge the power and wealth of an Establishment which has taken for themselves while leaving the vast majority in a cost-of-living crisis.
“We are still waiting to see which version of Andy Burnham is going to show up in Downing Street. While he has talked about a change of course, the early indications are not encouraging and suggest more of the same with better communication skills.
“The time for half measures and sticking plasters is long gone — Burnham must be bold or he will be bust.”
I hope that the Morning Star will excuse me republishing the full article.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
He suspended MPs including John McDonnell and Zarah Sultana.
Keir Starmer has described scrapping the two-child benefit cap as his proudest moment as prime minister – despite previously suspending Labour MPs for voting for its removal.
Starmer was asked “What have you been most proud of as prime minister?” in an interview with Beth Rigby on Sky News on Wednesday.
“Lifting half a million children out of poverty by removing the two-child benefit cap,” he replied.
“That is something I’m proud of because that will be felt not just this year, next year, not just during the duration of this government, but for those children it will be felt for the rest of their lives.”
However, Starmer’s boast has drawn accusations of hypocrisy from social media users, who have pointed to his previous decision to punish his own MPs for voting for the policy.
In July 2024 Starmer withdrew the whip from seven backbench Labour MPs for backing a Scottish National Party amendment calling for the cap to be axed.
The amendment was defeated by 363 votes to 103, with rebel MPs John McDonnell, Richard Burgon, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Apsana Begum, Imran Hussain, Ian Byrne and Zarah Sultana all suspended from the Labour party. An additional 42 Labour MPs abstained.
Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.Keir Starmer refuses to be outcnuted by Nigel Farage’s chasing the racist bigot vote.
Global Sumud Flotilla member Meriem Hadjal speaks to the press after arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on May 22, 2026. (Photo by Firas Abdullah/Anadolu via Getty Images)
French nationals and people from dozens of countries who were abducted from the Global Sumud Flotilla say they were beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted by their Israeli captors.
France’s government on Friday asked prosecutors to investigate Israel’s alleged mistreatment of French nationals aboard the last Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted earlier this month in international waters while trying to break the illegal decadeslong Israeli blockade of Gaza.
“Based on a report I requested from our Consul General in Turkey—who informed me of sexual violence, exposure to the cold, beatings, and repeated humiliation of French nationals—all of these acts are likely to constitute criminal offenses,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said during an interview with France Inter, adding, “I decided yesterday to refer the matter to the public prosecutor.”
The move follows France’s indefinite ban from its territory of far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who posted a video on social media showing him joyfully humiliating detained activists, journalists, and others who were mostly kneeling with their hands tied behind their backs and their foreheads forced to the ground following the May 18 interception of flotilla vessels off the coast of Cyprus and the abduction of all aboard.
“We cannot tolerate that French nationals can be threatened, intimidated, or brutalized in this way—all the more so by a public official,” Barrot said last week.
People from around 40 countries—including 37 French nationals—were seized from dozens of flotilla vessels and held in harsh conditions on what many of them called a “torture boat.”
According to Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF): “Detained humanitarians, doctors, and journalists were processed one by one through a darkened shipping container. Inside, groups of three to five soldiers systematically brutalized each person who came through the door while those waiting outside listened to the screams.”
French medical professional Meriem Hadjal said she was “subjected to torture” in the container, where at least one Israeli soldier allegedly sexually assaulted her.
“We were treated like animals,” Hadjal added, accusing her Israeli captors of “sadism.”
Flotilla activist Meriem Hadjal described being sexually assaulted by Israeli forces. She said they stripped her of her clothes and continued groping her chest while striking her repeatedly in the head. pic.twitter.com/ae5CzcHThL
Numerous national governments condemned Israel’s treatment of the flotilla abductees, including the United States. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that Ben-Gvir “betrayed the dignity” of his nation, which receives billions of dollars in annual armed aid and diplomatic cover from the United States to carry out what many experts say is a genocidal war on Gaza.
Malaysia is reportedly preparing to initiate proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice over the abduction and alleged torture of its citizens, 29 of whom were aboard the flotilla. The ICJ is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa and formally supported by nearly 20 nations.
“We will not remain silent, we will not stop. While the legal team gathers all documentation on violations of international law; they were kidnapped more than once, they were tortured,” Amirudin Shari, chief minister of the Malaysian state of Selangor, said during a homecoming ceremony for the flotilla members at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.
Israeli troops have physically and psychologically tortured past flotilla abductees. Dozens of members of the previous Global Sumud mission required medical attention for broken ribs, noses, and other injuries inflicted by Israeli forces. In 2010, Israeli troops killed nine activists aboard one of the first-ever Gaza flotillas, including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan.
As some countries pursue justice for flotilla members, others have declined to act. In the United Kingdom, Zarah Sultana, who represents Coventry South for the socialist Your Party in Parliament, is demanding “urgent action” in the wake of abuse allegations made by British flotilla abductees.
Following harrowing testimony from French nationals detained by Israel, France has now referred reports of sexual violence, beatings and humiliation against Global Sumud Flotilla activists to prosecutors.
“France is acting. Spain is showing leadership. Where is the UK government?” Sultana said Friday on X. “Nothing but a simp for Israel, a genocidal apartheid state.”
In the Commons last week, Zarah Sultana used parliamentary privilege to expose a court order that restricts reporting on certain aspects of a live criminal case, withholding important information from both jurors and the British public. But neither Novara Media nor any other British media outlet can safely report or play the contents of what she said.
On Wednesday night’s Novara Live, the Your Party MP joined host Steven Methven to discuss what she described as an “insane” attack “on all of our civil liberties”.
“The fact that only Parliament TV, only Hansard, can report on it tells you what the British state is all about – and it is about curtailing our rights to organise, to resist, to challenge when the state overreaches,” she said. “I think it is scary.”
Parliamentary privilege protects Sultana from prosecution for what she said in the chamber, but breaching the order outside of the House of Commons could be considered contempt of court, carrying a maximum two-year prison sentence.
“I was surprised to learn that the British media has no absolute right to report on what MPs say in our own parliament,” Methven said on the show.
“I’m scared that a lot of people don’t even know what’s happening,” Sultana replied. “The fact that American organisations and non-UK organisations are the only ones reporting on this is scary. How do we organise against this? And how do we fight back?”
While he did not reveal the contents of Sultana’s 14 April speech, which can be viewed online in the Parliament TV archive, Methven said that her statement was connected to very general issues relating to jury trials and the government’s current attack on them, as well as counter-terror law.
Your Party MP Zarah Sultana speaks at a demonstration organised by CND, Stop the War, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Muslim Association of Britain, Palestinian Forum in Britain and Friends of Al-Aqsa, in London to call for an end to Iran war, March 2026
