Palestinian supporters protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Times Square during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, September 26, 2024, in New York
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU was accused today of trying to drag Britain and the wider world into Israel’s murderous wars in Lebanon and Gaza.
Large numbers of diplomats from multiple nations walked out as Israel’s prime minister headed to the podium for his speech at the United Nations general assembly meeting in New York.
Mr Netanyahu opened his speech by saying he wanted to “set the record straight” against the “lies” that other nations were telling the meeting of the bloc.
He said that Israel has the right to defend itself from “savage murderers” and claimed that supporting Israel was in the “interest of all of us.”
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A Stop the War spokesperson said: “Netanyahu is trying to drag the wider world, including Britain, into the murderous wars he is waging in Lebanon and Gaza.
“The British government must use all possible pressure to force Israel to stop the killing and agree a ceasefire in both wars.”
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In response to Mr Netanyahu’s speech, Green Party co-leader and Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer said: “No-one is winning while Israel turns down ceasefire proposals, more die in Gaza and Lebanon, and hostages are not released.
“The UK government must revoke all arms licences and use all diplomatic power to bring an end to the killing.”
Protesters demand arrest of Netanyahu ahead of UN visit (Photo: Wyatt Souers)
Hounded across the world for war crimes, Netanyahu attempts to defend Israel’s genocidal campaign across the region
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained on the defensive throughout his speech to the United Nations today. Taking the stage amid jeers from the assembled delegates, who stormed out in protest, Netanyahu claimed that he had originally decided to skip the General Assembly but after hearing “lies and slander” against Israel, decided to “set the record straight.”
Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has resulted in a death toll of over 41,000 people. Israel’s expansion of this genocidal onslaught into Lebanon has resulted in a major escalation, with the Zionist state’s bombs killing more than 700 in Lebanon since Monday. On the same day as Netanyahu’s speech, Israel launched a series of airstrikes in Beirut, and bombed a compound of Al Aqsa Hospital in Gaza, killing at least one person.
“The UN is watching with great alarm,” the airstrikes in Beirut, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
“Israel seeks peace, Israel yearns for peace,” Netanyahu proclaimed to the UNGA.
“We face savage enemies who seek our annihilation, and we must defend ourselves against these savage murderers, [who] seek not only to destroy us but also destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror,” Netanyahu stated in the familiar war-mongering tone that Israeli officials have become known for since October 7.
Netanyahu is a wanted war criminal. In August, International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan urged ICC judges to rule on his request for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Khan had applied for arrest warrants back in May for the two top Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity. But these warrants, if issued, would not apply in Israel’s biggest ally, the United States, which is not a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC.
As Israel’s aggression continues to isolate it on the world stage, people of conscience in the United States, Israel’s largest military and financial backer, attempt to isolate it in the belly of the beast.
Thousands of people also marched to the United Nations on September 26 to protest Netanyahu’s visit to the UNGA. The protest was organized by the Shut It Down for Palestine Coalition which includes organizations such as the Palestinian Youth Movement, the People’s Forum, the ANSWER Coalition, and Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition. “When a war criminal comes to our city, we don’t stay home, we don’t stay silent. We go out to the streets, every single day that he is in this city, and we make it known, Netanyahu, the people are coming for you,” said Miriam Osman of the Palestinian Youth Movement to an assembled crowd of thousands in Midtown Manhattan.
Later that day, a crowd of thousands protested outside the Loews Regency New York Hotel where Netanyahu was staying ahead of his UN speech. Demonstrators were met with brutality and arrests from New York police.
Ali Abdel Rahman Zorout, (5), who was wounded by an Israeli air strike, poses for a picture at the Alaaeddine Hospital in Sarafand, south Lebanon, September 26, 2024
Britain’s call for temporary Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire not enough, campaigners say
BRITAIN came under increased pressure to stop arms sales to Israel today after the Western-backed state snubbed international calls for a 21-day temporary ceasefire and unleashed a “fresh wave of horror” across Lebanon.
Amnesty International UK warned Israel could be committing more war crimes as it raised “deep alarm” over the staggering death toll since it launched an intense series of air strikes that began earlier this week, displacing half a million people.
The Stop the War Coalition (StWC) and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn MP were also among the peace campaigners calling for urgent action to prevent an all-out regional war in the Middle East.
Fifty-one people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Wednesday, Lebanon’s Health Ministry says, with more than 90,000 people displaced across the country since Monday, according to the UN.
Amnesty International UK decried the latest onslaught on Lebanon, warning that using explosive weapons with “wide-area effects in the vicinity of densely populated residential areas is likely to violate the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks and can also lead to disproportionate attacks.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide.Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
At the UNGA, world leaders condemn Israel for committing genocide in Gaza and provoking a regional war, calling for an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation
The General Debate of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, an annual meeting of heads of state and government, began on Tuesday, September 24, in New York City. This year’s theme, “Leaving no one behind: acting together for the advancement of peace, sustainable development, and human dignity for present and future generations,” framed the discussion.
So far, the ongoing genocidal war waged by Israel against Gaza, Lebanon, and the occupied West Bank, as well as Israel’s repeated assaults on Palestinians, dominated the interventions of heads of state from all continents in this year’s session.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres opened the debate by emphasizing the growing climate of impunity that allows governments and political actors to violate international laws and human rights conventions, including the UN Charter. “We see this age of impunity everywhere—in the Middle East, in the heart of Europe, in the Horn of Africa,” Guterres stated.
He described the mass killings and destruction in Gaza as unprecedented, noting that 200 United Nations staff members had been killed, many slain alongside their families. “The speed and scale of the killing and destruction in Gaza are unlike anything in my years as Secretary-General,” Guterres said. He called for an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of hostages, and a committed effort toward a two-state solution. Guterres also warned that Lebanon is on the brink of becoming “another Gaza,” stating that the world cannot afford that. “Meanwhile, Gaza is a non-stop nightmare that threatens to take the entire region with it,” he stated.
Philémon Yang, President of the 79th session of the General Assembly, echoed these concerns. “For almost a year now, the people of Gaza and Israel have been caught in a spiraling cycle of conflict and retribution,” he said. “Indeed, only a two-State solution can end the cycle of violence and instability, ensuring peace, security and dignity for both Palestinians and Israelis.”
Brazilian President Lula da Silva was the first head of state to address the Assembly, describing the Israeli assault on Gaza and the West Bank as one of the worst humanitarian crises in recent history, with the conflict threatening to spill over into Lebanon. He condemned Israel’s actions as genocide and collective punishment that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, stating: “The right to defense has turned into a right to vengeance, which prevents an agreement for the release of hostages and postpones the ceasefire.”
US President Joe Biden, whose administration has provided financial and military aid to Israel used to massacre Palestinians, claimed that his country has been working with Qatar and Egypt on a ceasefire and hostage deal with the support of the UN Security Council. “Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms, bring the hostages home, and secure security for Israel and Gaza,” Biden said, reiterating support for a two-state solution with “Israelis enjoying peace and security” and “Palestinians living in security, dignity and self-determination in a ‘state of their own’.”
While calling for diplomacy, Biden’s remarks were contradictory, as the US has supported Israel’s expansion of the conflict into other parts of the region, including Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. Despite this, Biden claimed that “a full-scale war is not in anyone’s interest” and that “a diplomatic solution is still possible.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused Israel of turning Gaza into “the largest cemetery for children and women in the world.” He condemned the United Nations for its inaction, saying that, as children die in Gaza, the UN system is dying too. He asked: “Are those in Gaza and the occupied West Bank not human beings? Do children in Palestine have no rights?”
Erdoğan also held the United Nations Security Council accountable for failing to prevent the genocide in Gaza. “What are you waiting for to prevent the genocide in Gaza and to put a ‘stop’ to this cruelty, this barbarism?” he asked. “How long are you going to be able to carry the shame of witnessing this massacre?” He further criticized countries that offer Israel unconditional support and blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for escalating the conflict and dragging the ‘Middle East’ deeper into a regional war.
Arab and Latin American leaders demand justice for Gaza
Jordan’s King Abdullah II bin al-Hussein accused Israel of deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians and UN workers, stating, “The UN is under attack, both literally and figuratively.” He criticized the blockade preventing UN aid convoys from reaching Gaza, as aid trucks “sit motionless just miles away from starving Palestinians.” King Abdullah also highlighted the ongoing killings and forced displacement of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank since October 7. He added that the Arab world had extended its hand to Israel through “the Arab Peace Initiative” for years, but Israel rejected peace and chose confrontation instead.
Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, whose country has been mediating efforts for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange, described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “crime of genocide” and “the most barbaric and heinous and extensive in breaching human values, international charters and norms.” He reaffirmed Qatar’s commitment to securing a permanent ceasefire and ensuring Palestinians gain their legitimate rights, above all an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro reminded the international community that Colombia had called for a peace conference for Palestine a year ago, before 20,000 Palestinian children were killed by Israel. He condemned the global community’s double standards, based on a foundation of racism. “The democratic project of humanity is dying,” Petro said, “while those who stupidly believe that the Aryan race should dominate the world prepare to do just that through bombs and terror.”
“This is what is happening in Gaza and Lebanon,” he added. “When Gaza dies, humanity will die.”
Pro-Palestinian protesters take part in a Palestine Solidarity Campaign demonstration as they march to the Labour Party conference venue on September 21, 2024 in Liverpool, England. [Ian Forsyth/Getty Images]
It’s difficult to comprehend the horrors of what’s happening in Gaza, Lebanon and beyond in the Middle East. The heartbreaking scenes of dirt-encrusted toddlers screaming as they’re pulled from the rubble of what was once their homes; the small children carrying plastic bags containing the remains of their slain siblings; the white-bandaged bodies of whole families laid out next to hospitals in their hundreds; the shaking youngsters trying to hide as Israeli soldiers fire indiscriminately at anything that moves. Surely, feeling a deep, painful empathy for the victims of such savagery, especially the children, is part of what gives us our humanity.
This isn’t the same for everyone, of course. Not for the perpetrators, who use their cutting-edge western-manufactured machines of death to extinguish these innocent lives. Nor, in most cases, for politicians here in Britain. For Prime Minister Keir Starmer, these scenes are even the set up for a joke.
During the new prime minister’s triumphant speech at this week’s Labour Party conference, a heckler dared to challenge the Dear Leader on his lack of empathy for Israel’s victims. After Starmer said that, “Every child, every person, deserves to be respected for the contribution they make,” Labour member Daniel Riley, 18, shouted in response: “Does that include the children of Gaza?”
“This guy’s obviously got a pass from the 2019 conference,” quipped the smug Starmer, in a reference to years when Labour was led by pro-Palestinian Jeremy Corbyn. The more sycophantic element of Starmer’s congregation, stronger than ever thanks to Sir Keir’s purges of the left, lapped up the jibe.
It’s become a cliché to respond to such things with variations of “imagine the response if Corbyn had said something like that about Israeli children,” but sometimes you can’t help but be stunned at the double standards. Corbyn would never have said such a thing, but if he had it would have been frontpage news; irrefutable proof of his alleged anti-Semitism.
But they weren’t Israeli children. They were Arabs. And in mainstream western discourse, they don’t count. They don’t suffer. They don’t have dreams. They’re abstract numbers, if that.
They’re just Arabs, unworthy of our empathy.
To really hammer home the hypocrisy, the words “genocide” and “apartheid” had already been banned from the Labour conference. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign was forced to remove both words from the title of its fringe meeting. Some activists responded by painting the words “genocide conference” on the windows of the venue.
In many ways, the Labour government, elected in July after 14 years in the wilderness, is an improvement on their Conservative predecessors regarding Palestine. But that’s a pretty low bar. Starmer may have banned his MPs from attending the huge protests against the war on Gaza, which often numbered hundreds of thousands of people, but he didn’t go as far as former home secretary Suella Braverman, who branded them “hate marches”.
Pro-Palestinian protesters campaign near Downing Street in London, UK, on Wednesday, July 24, 2024. [Betty Laura Zapata/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
And despite Labour’s top team repeating the mantra that “Israel has the right to defend itself” like a broken record whenever the issue comes up, it has at least (and belatedly) called for a ceasefire and the establishment of a Palestinian state (however problematic that demand in itself is).
The Labour government has also drawn the ire of Israel for dropping its opposition to the International Criminal Court’s bid for an arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu. A further schism was seen when the UK resumed its £21 million funding to the Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA. Again, it was a low bar.
Much has also been made of the new government’s decision to block arms sales to Israel (although this is limited to a pitiful eight per cent of exports). Unsurprisingly, the Palestine solidarity movement says it’s not enough. And so do the British public: in May, 55 per cent of the British public wanted arms sales to Israel to be suspended until the war against the Palestinians in Gaza ends.
Even less surprisingly, it was met with fury from Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu said that it was “sending a horrible message” to Hamas. Starmer responded to Netanyahu’s comment during an interview on LBC Radio over the conference period. “No, he’s not right about that,” he tried to reassure the audience. “We had to comply with international law and our domestic law in relation to that. I’ve always been clear, I support Israel’s right to self-defence, I’ve been robust about that… I’ve taken blows in relation to that – there’s no doubting that support – but it’s got to be done in accordance with international law.”
In other words, “I’m really sorry, and I’m not saying you’re committing war crimes, it’s just that it would be a bad look for a former lawyer to end up in The Hague.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy was also questioned on LBC during the conference about why the other 92 per cent of arms sales to Israel had not been banned, including the export of parts for F-35 fighter jets, which Israel has used, among other things, to bomb heavily-populated refugee camps in Gaza. Lammy said that a full embargo would limit Israel’s ability to fight the Houthis in Yemen “and other proxies”.
“I think that would be a mistake,” he added. “It would lead to a wider war and an escalation that we here in the UK are committed to stopping, so I’m afraid I disagree with that position.”
In Lammy’s eyes, war is peace.
By coincidence, two of the arms companies currently selling their merchandise to Israel for use in Gaza were also at the conference. According to Private Eye magazine, BAE Systems, which makes parts for the F-35, hosted a high-profile meeting with defence secretary John Healey. A separate event, featuring armed forces minister Luke Pollard, was sponsored by US arms firm Northrop Grumman. Northrop Grumman makes parts for the F-35, the F-16 and the Apache helicopter. All are being used to massacre civilians in Israel’s war in Gaza and the wider region.
To ensure compliance with the Zionist narrative, Israeli politicians came to the conference themselves. Among them was opposition leader Yair Golan, who has said that Palestinians should “starve to death” until the hostages are released. He was granted audiences with several ministers, including Lammy, and attended a meeting hosted by Labour Friends of Israel.
Nevertheless, the conference did at least spark some hope for the Palestine cause, albeit inadvertently. During its opening weekend, 15,000 protesters gathered in Liverpool to send a message to Labour over its appalling support for the occupation state.
And that’s where the hope is. The Labour government won’t stand up to Israel’s devastating behaviour without pressure. If what we’ve seen already isn’t enough to make them change this attitude, I’m not sure what would. If Israel invaded London, Keir Starmer would probably still be trying to sell them the weapons to do it with.
Labour has pretty much always backed wars that align with the needs of the British and now US empires, from the First World War to Vietnam. It wants to preserve the British state, its crown and its interests, albeit in a way that slightly improves life for its working-class base. It’s currently in the interests of the British ruling class to cling to the coattails of the United States. The US, in turn, needs Israel as its outpost in the Middle East. This is all hardwired into Establishment politics.
Politicians who deviate from such norms, such as Corbyn, are vilified. That’s not how we do grown-up politics in this country, don’t you know?
Starmer is no radical. He’s not really much at all.
His main use was to seize back control of the Labour party from the left and return it to the hands of the Establishment. He did this by standing on a left-wing manifesto during his leadership election only to abandon it, ally himself with the right of the party and purge the left once he assumed the leadership.
His domestic agenda is hampered severely by his unwillingness to tax the rich to repair the devastation left by the Conservatives. Instead, he is removing winter fuel allowances from pensioners and maintaining benefit restrictions on anyone with more than two children. These, he keeps saying, are “tough choices”, even though they are the easiest choices for him, as he is so scared of upsetting the rich and powerful.
He’s desperate to be seen as an effective manager for the British state, which means maintaining the easy ride enjoyed by the wealthy and aligning himself with US-led geopolitical interests. Moreover, the British Establishment that Starmer works for is fully behind the US and its Middle Eastern proxy, Israel.
Just as a middle manager at a fast food company would enthusiastically and unquestioningly promote its unhealthy products, despite their harmful effects on consumers, Starmer is hardwired to enthusiastically and unquestioningly execute the will of the people with real power over Britain. That’s not the electorate.
Tales of children suffering in Gaza are as irrelevant to him as children suffering under his benefit restrictions in Britain. Elderly people freezing in makeshift shelters in Lebanon are as irrelevant to him as elderly people freezing in Britain because they can’t afford to pay their energy bills.
And all the while, Starmer enjoys the patronage of the powerful. His bewilderment at a recent outcry over major donations of cash, designer clothes and tickets to football matches and concerts to him and his top team reveals his belief that he should be reaping the rewards of his subservience as much as any effective manager.
The Labour party conference showed us a government that will continue to stand firmly behind Israel, no matter what the state does or the wider horrors it looks set to unleash. Mild reprimands aside, Labour under Starmer will not abandon the apartheid state without huge pressure.
That’s why real opposition to Israel’s crimes remains in the hands of those outside parliament who take to the streets, occupy their universities and speak up loudly in defence of Palestinians. The Labour leadership’s limited concessions to Palestinian rights would not have been made without that pressure from below. It’s only when actions like these begin to challenge Starmer’s tentative grip on power that he will be forced to offer any sort of meaningful opposition to Israel’s barbarism.
Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide.
