complicity

Starmer accused of ‘gaslighting’ on Palestinian statehood recognition

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-accused-gaslighting-palestinian-statehood-recognition

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, at the launch event for Labour’s campaign bus at Uxbridge College, while on the General Election campaign trail, June 1, 2024

CAMPAIGNERS accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of “gaslighting” on Palestinian statehood recognition today.

According to sources cited in the Guardian, Sir Keir is expected to make a pledge to “recognise Palestine before the end of any peace process.”

They also claimed he would commit to ensuring such a move is not vetoed by neighbouring countries.

But Momentum slammed it as a weakening of Labour’s previous commitments.

A spokesperson said: “The manifesto Starmer stood on pledged to recognise a Palestinian state immediately. Labour reiterated this in 2022.

“Now, it’s just ‘at some point’ — this is not good enough.

“Spain, Ireland and other countries have already recognised a Palestinian state. But the Starmer leadership rows back on Labour’s policy, then gaslights Palestinians and their supporters that they have somehow advanced.”

Jewish Voice for Labour co-chairwoman Jenny Manson said: “An offer to recognise Palestinian statehood before the end of any peace process, is at the current time, with absolutely no prospect of a peace process, a non-commitment.

“A commitment would be to recognise Palestine now, along with Norway, Ireland, Spain, and Slovenia, to give a chance for the peace process to start.”

And Palestinian Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal said: “The reports of the Labour Party manifesto containing a policy to recognise Palestine at some point in the future is a weakening of its position since the 2019 election commitment to immediate recognition.

“The recognition of Palestinian statehood by itself can only be a stepping stone to full implementation of the Palestinian right to self-determination including the right of refugees to return.

“If Labour claims to be committed to recognising the Palestinian right of self-determination, then there are no grounds not to recognise the state immediately, as countries such as Ireland and Spain have recently done.”

Labour’s move could be seen as an attempt to claw back voters who have backed away from the party over its stance on Israel’s war on Gaza.

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmer-accused-gaslighting-palestinian-statehood-recognition

Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted "I support Zionism without qualification." He's asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.

Continue ReadingStarmer accused of ‘gaslighting’ on Palestinian statehood recognition

ISRAEL LOBBY FUNDED A QUARTER OF BRITISH MPS

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby-funded-a-quarter-of-british-mps/

DECLASSIFIED Exclusive: Declassified is publishing the full list of British MPs who received funding from pro-Israel lobbyists.

David Lammy, Keir Starmer, Yvette Cooper and Rachel Reeves have all been funded by Israel lobbyists. (Photo: Stefan Rousseau / Alamy)

Some 180 of Britain’s 650 MPs in the last parliament accepted funding from pro-Israel lobby groups or individuals during their political career, Declassified can reveal.

That includes 130 Conservative MPs, 41 Labour MPs and three Liberal Democrats.

Three members of the DUP, two independents and Reform’s only MP complete the list.

The total value of the donations from pro-Israel groups, individuals, and Israeli state institutions amounts to over one million pounds.

Between them, the politicians made over 240 paid-for trips to Israel, at a cost of over half a million pounds. 

Some of those trips involved visits to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and a small number were co-sponsored by groups which do not form part of the Israel lobby.

Remarkably, fifteen MPs have accepted funding to travel to Israel amid the Gaza genocide.

Huda Ammori, the co-founder of the direct action network Palestine Action, told Declassified: “Accepting funding from a lobby group on behalf of the perpetrators of a genocide should immediately bar anyone from standing as an MP. 

“To see how politicians continue to travel to Israel and engage with the genocide lobby explains why our government continues to defy international law by facilitating Israel’s war crimes”.

The full list of MPs can be accessed at the foot of this article. Around 47 of them are not standing for re-election.

No MPs from the Scottish National Party, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, Alba, Greens, Alliance or Workers Party received hospitality or funding from the lobby.

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Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), another opaquely funded parliamentary group, counts some 75 MPs as supporters or officers. 

The organisation recently removed the list of its parliamentary backers from its website, but this can be viewed here.

LFI has paid for 32 of Labour’s sitting MPs to travel to Israel since they were first elected, contributing over £64,000 to the visits.

In Al Jazeera’s 2017 documentary, The Lobby, LFI’s Michael Rubin privately  acknowledged  the group’s ties to the state of Israel. 

“We do work really closely together,” he said. “It’s just publicly we just try to keep LFI as a separate identity to the [Israeli] embassy”.

David Mencer, a former director of LFI and David Lammy’s unsuccessful campaign to become London mayor, is now a spokesman for the Israeli government.

Further trips to Israel have been funded by the Liberal Democrats Friends of Israel and Northern Ireland Friends of Israel.

Many of these delegations are jointly funded by the Israeli foreign ministry, indicating a close level of cooperation with the Israeli state. Over 40 MPs have accepted funding from Israeli state institutions.

Other pro-Israel lobby organisations that have funded MPs’ trips to Israel include the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Australia-Israel Cultural Exchange, Elnet UK, the Jewish National Fund and the National Jewish Assembly.

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby-funded-a-quarter-of-british-mps/

Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted "I support Zionism without qualification." He's asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.

Continue ReadingISRAEL LOBBY FUNDED A QUARTER OF BRITISH MPS

‘Another day, another war crime’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/another-day-another-war-crime

Blood can be seen in the aftermath of the Israeli strike on a U.N.-run school that killed dozens of Palestinians in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, June 6, 2024

More than 30 killed by Israeli strike on UN school sheltering displaced Palestinians

MORE than 30 people — mostly children — were killed by an Israeli strike on a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinians today.

Israel defended the latest bloodshed among Palestinians seeking refuge by claiming that Hamas was operating from within the UN refugee agency (UNRWA) school in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza.

It did not provide evidence for its claims, as is usually the case with such attacks.

A CNN analysis indicated that the weapons used in the pre-dawn attack were US-made.

It is not the first time that air-strikes have targeted the school.

The attack followed Israel’s announcement on Wednesday of a new military campaign in central Gaza, saying that there would be no pause in fights amid ceasefire talks.

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Peace and Justice Project founder Jeremy Corbyn, who is defending his Islington North seat as an independent MP, said he is “appalled by the ongoing loss of life,” telling the Star: “Another day, another war crime.

“What kind of world are we living in when this kind of horror becomes part of our weekly or even daily routine?

“How have we allowed these atrocities to become so normalised?

“A school is a place of learning, growth and joy. In Gaza, they have been turned into a place of death, trauma and grief.”

Mr Corbyn vowed to continue to speak up for a ceasefire, the end to arms sales to Israel and “the only path to a just and lasting peace: the end to the occupation of Palestine.”

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/another-day-another-war-crime

Continue Reading‘Another day, another war crime’

Biden Claims Israel Isn’t Starving Gazans. Rights Groups Say ‘It Is Clear as Day’

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Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Palestinians wait in line to receive food distributed by charitable organizations amid Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on May 28, 2024. (Photo: Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“The fact that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza is not in contention,” said a Human Rights Watch researcher.

U.S. President Joe Biden said in an interview published Tuesday that he does not believe the Israeli government is using starvation as a weapon of warfare in Gaza, contradicting the findings of leading human rights organizations that have documented Israel’s deliberate obstruction of food aid as Palestinians die of malnutrition.

“No, I don’t think that,” Biden said in response to TIME magazine’s Washington bureau chief Massimo Calabresi and editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs, who noted some have “alleged that Israel is intentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare.”

The president, who has approved more than 100 arms sales to Israel during its eight-month assault on the Gaza Strip, acknowledged that Israel’s military has “engaged in activity that is inappropriate” and that “Palestinians have suffered greatly.”

But he stopped well short of the conclusions reached by Oxfam International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the International Criminal Court, which recently applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for their role in the “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and other war crimes.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has also determined that Israel has unlawfully impeded the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, leading to a “deterioration of food security and nutrition in Gaza [that] is unprecedented in modern history.”

“The fact that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza is not in contention. It is clear as day,” Hiba Zayadin, a researcher at HRW, wrote in response to Biden’s TIME interview, pointing to her group’s December report that found the Israeli military was “deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival.”

“The evidence is even stronger today,” Zayadin added, citing HRW’s April report that focused specifically on the Israeli military’s starvation of Gaza children. Dozens of Palestinian kids, some just months old, have died of malnutrition since October, a figure that is almost certain to grow as Israel’s bombing campaign and ground offensive in Rafah continue.

The World Food Program said Wednesday that unless Israel’s assault on Gaza ends and desperately needed humanitarian aid is allowed to flow, more than a million people in the occupied enclave “are expected to face death and starvation… by mid-July.”

Humanitarian groups and experts—including an outspoken former U.S. State Department official—have argued that by continuing to arm Israel and provide it with diplomatic cover on the world stage, the Biden administration is complicit in Gaza’s increasingly dire hunger crisis.

“This is not just turning a blind eye to the man-made starvation of an entire population, it is direct complicity,” Josh Paul, who resigned from the State Department in October over the administration’s support for Israel’s assault on Gaza, told The Independent last month.

In a speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate earlier this week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) displayed photos of emaciated children as he explained his decision to boycott Netanyahu’s upcoming speech to Congress.

“Blocking humanitarian aid and creating the conditions for famine is not only an act of extreme cruelty—using starvation as an act of war—but it is a violation of both American and international law,” Sanders added. “It is a war crime.”

Original article by JAKE JOHNSON republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Continue ReadingBiden Claims Israel Isn’t Starving Gazans. Rights Groups Say ‘It Is Clear as Day’