Zita Holbourne addresses a previous TUC Congress at Manchester Central in 2018
ANDY BURNHAM’S government remains complicit in genocide, unions said as TUC passed an historic vote to back the Palestinian-led BDS campaign against Israel today.
Ministers announced new restrictions on trade and weapons exports with illegal settlers in Palestine earlier this month.
Campaigners hailed delegates in Brighton for voting to support the “Palestinian-led boycott, divest and sanctions (BDS) movement” and call on the government to impose “wide-ranging sanctions on Israel until it complies with international law.”
Moving the motion, Artists Union England’s Zita Holbourne said that the government’s recent acceptance of a 2024 International Court of Justice ruling urging Israel not to commit genocide in Gaza “is not enough.”
“Palestinian society, including unions, have reiterated the call for the international community to implement BDS against ongoing crimes of genocide, apartheid and occupation,” she said.
The motion also called on ministers to “commit to freedom of speech and end attempts to censor artists and art organisations expressing solidarity with Palestine” after it emerged on Tuesday that rapper Macklemore was removed from an Ed Sheeran concert for backing the war-torn territory.
Seconding, Unison delegate Margaret McKee said that unions will continue to call on Labour to fully suspend arms trade with Israel and the Britain-Israel trade partnership agreement until “human rights and international law are respected.”
“If the government doesn’t do this, you are still being complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people,” she said.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.Genocide denying [former] UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.
Elbit has an MoD contract to provide a simulation trainer for Challenger 3 tanks (Photo: Stephen Bardens / Alamy)
Ed Miliband’s decision to leave the military relationship with Israel intact raises serious concerns about Britain’s compliance with international law.
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Genocide scholar Martin Shaw told Declassified: “The government’s acceptance that the occupation is illegal means that it should act against Israel itself, not just the settlers it has installed.
“The ICJ was clear that states must do nothing that provides ‘aid or assistance’ to Israel in maintaining the occupation, and must ‘ensure that any impediment’ that the occupation causes to the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination ‘is brought to an end’.
“Through the UK’s military alliance with Israel and its comprehensive military-industrial cooperation, Labour still appears to be failing in these legal duties, despite Miliband’s announcements”.
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Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights, told Declassified: “This important investigation exposes precisely why the UK government’s recent measures are largely performative and designed to whitewash the multifaceted, shameless complicity of the UK with Israel’s regime of settler-colonialism, illegal occupation, apartheid and genocide.
“The UK has failed to end the economic relationships, trade agreements and academic relations with Israel that may contribute to its unlawful presence and apartheid regime in the occupied Palestinian territory, as it is obliged to do in order to comply with the ICJ ruling.
“It is absurd for the UK to sanction settlements while simultaneously purchasing and integrating Israeli surveillance and weapon systems that are field-tested on Palestinians into its own armed forces.
“Comparing these largely symbolic measures with the far-reaching sanctions imposed by the UK on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine affirms the UK’s colonial hypocrisy and loss of credibility on the international stage”.
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In addition to military collaboration, Britain’s intelligence relationship with Israel will be untouched, according to Miliband, and there are no signs that either the 2020 UK-Israel military cooperation agreement, nor the 2023 Road Map for UK-Israel bilateral relations will be suspended.
In response to Britain’s sanctions, Israel has said it will close the British consulate in East Jerusalem, remove UK representatives from the International Gaza Support Centre in Kiryat Gat, and terminate Britain’s role in training Palestinian Authority forces in the West Bank.
Omar Barghouti added: “The UK has very clear obligations under international law, as triggered by the ICJ decisions of 2024 about Israel’s plausible genocide and its illegal occupation and apartheid.
“The UK must end all military, intelligence, trade, financial, academic and other relations with Israel that enable its illegal occupation, apartheid or genocide, as the ICJ has called for”.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
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Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy speaks during a press conference on September 02, 2026. [Mostafa Darwish – Anadolu Agency]
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has backed a bloc-wide ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, calling it a justified “principled stance,” Anadolu reports.
In an interview with The Irish Times on Thursday, Kallas said there was broad agreement among EU foreign ministers that expanding Israeli settlements violated international law.
“When Crimea was occupied, then it was very clear — it’s illegal, we don’t recognize this,” she said. “We should have the same principled stance — you know this is illegal, everybody agrees, so we should stop trading with Occupied (Palestinian) Territories.”
Kallas said an EU ban on imports from Israeli settlements would not require the unanimous backing of all 27 member states.
As the proposed ban could be introduced as a trade measure rather than a foreign policy decision, it would require a qualified majority of at least 15 member states representing roughly two-thirds of the bloc’s population.
The EU has previously struggled to approve sanctions against Israel because foreign policy measures require unanimity.
Kallas said the European Commission was under “very clear” pressure from national governments to propose a settlement trade ban and that EU foreign ministers were waiting for the bloc’s executive body to act.
Although the volume of trade originating from Israeli settlements was limited, a ban would deliver an important symbolic message, she added.
Kallas acknowledged that member states had differing positions on relations with Israel and said there were “pros and cons” to acting before Israel’s parliamentary elections in late October.
She added that EU members agreed on supporting a two-state solution and ensuring that humanitarian aid reached Palestinians without being politicized.
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Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
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Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide gives a speech in Brussels, Belgium on December 3, 2025. [Dursun Aydemir – Anadolu Agency]]
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide warned that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken Israel to a “very dangerous place,” Anadolu reports.
In remarks to Euronews in Riga, Latvia published on Friday, Eide described the current Israeli government as “the most far-right government in Israel’s history” and expressed hope that the country would eventually recognize it had been on a “very dangerous track,” regardless of the outcome of elections scheduled for October.
Eide also criticized Western countries’ response to conflicts in the Middle East, arguing that they “undermined” their credibility through what he called a “wobbly, unclear and unprincipled” approach.
“The problem has been that too many countries have been careful in criticizing Israel because you were so easily attacked for being anti-Semitic,” he said, adding that this pushed the international community toward “less daring positions.”
His remarks came days after Norway joined 11 other countries in announcing plans to introduce restrictions on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Norway recognized Palestine in 2024.
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Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him UpUK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception .
Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), left, speaks with Ranking Member Jack Reed (D-RI) during a hearing on February 27, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“The American people do not want American military integration with a country responsible for war crimes, international law violations, and mass killings amounting to genocide.”
A coalition of over 50 rights groups on Thursday wrote to leaders in Congress to “strongly urge” them to reject not only specific proposals in each chamber’s version of the next Pentagonbudget, but also “any legislation seeking to intertwine US and Israeli defense or intelligence capabilities.”
The provision in the House-approved National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2027 (HR 8800) is Section 219—previously titled Section 224—and the related but slightly different proposal in the pending Senate bill (S. 4784) is Section 1217. Congressional leadership is expected to negotiate a version of the full NDAA that can pass both GOP-controlled chambers.
“The provisions would establish a new US Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative aimed at accelerating joint research, development, and integration of Israeli-origin and jointly developed defense technologies into US military systems and programs of record,” says the new letter to the chairs and ranking members of both Armed Services committees: Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jack Reed (D-RI) and Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.).
“This would expand US-Israeli military integration across some of the most sensitive domains of emerging technology, including quantum computing, AI and autonomous systems, cyber and electronic warfare, directed energy, and defense industrial base co-production, while expediting pathways from R&D into procurement,” notes the letter, first reported by Reuters.
Congressional consideration of the provision comes nearly three years into US-armed Israeli forces’ campaign in the Gaza Strip—decried as genocide by many activists, experts, and governments around the world—in response to the Hamas-led October 2023 attack on Israel. The violence has claimed over 73,000 Palestinian lives and continues, despite a nearly year-old ceasefire.
“These facts alone should prevent even the discussion of deepening military ties, especially given the complete inability of the United States to apply existing laws, such as the Foreign Assistance Act or the Arms Export Control Act, that would require the suspension of US military aid and arms transfers to Israel,” the groups argued. “The American people do not want American military integration with a country responsible for war crimes, international law violations, and mass killings amounting to genocide.”
Pointing to polling that has shown growing opposition to US military aid to Israel “across the political spectrum,” the coalition wrote that “Section 219/1217 works to hide continuing US military support to Israel from public scrutiny and congressional oversight and involvement. Far from working to shift the US-Israel relationship in line with American public opinion, this section encourages the direct use of Israeli-manufactured technology into the US’ systems, which may render the United States dependent on Israel’s provision of such technologies, and make disentangling the relationship in the future ever more difficult.”
“At a time in which American interests are increasingly diverging from those of Israel, and American public opinion is turning increasingly against unconditional support to Israel, creating new points of influence for Israel in the U.S. defense-technology ecosystem is exceptionally dangerous,” stresses the letter.
It also sounds the alarm about Section 622 of the 2027 Intelligence Authorization Act, which was introduced in May by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and “would limit the president’s ability to restrict America’s intelligence-sharing and military collaboration with Israel by requiring the president to identify and document a specific national security concern that necessitates any changes, and expand intelligence sharing and cooperation with countries that have normalized relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords.”
“Governments have an obligation to ensure the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms when advancing their national security interests, including countering threats to their populations’ right to privacy or other freedoms,” the letter declares. “Intertwining US and Israeli information-gathering and defense raises significant concerns given the recent evidence of Israeli espionage against people in the US, including government officials.”
Signatories include A New Policy, Amnesty International USA, Demand Progress, IfNotNow Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, Just Foreign Policy, National Lawyers Guild, National Nurses United, Peace Action, Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, RootsAction, Win Without War, and dozens of other organizations.
Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Zita Holbourne addresses a previous TUC Congress at Manchester Central in 2018
