Chris Williamson outside the Birmingham Civil Justice Centre
WORKERS PARTY deputy leader Chris Williamson quit the party in protest at George Galloway’s decision to contest the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.
Mr Williamson, a former Labour MP, has come out in support of Green Party leader Zack Polanski, the main left challenger to Labour in the constituency.
“I have a huge amount of respect for George Galloway, but I believe we should get behind Zack Polanski on this occasion,” he wrote on social media.
“My firm view is that the left must collaborate to defeat the Labour Party, Reform UK, Conservatives and Lib Dems because these parties are all in the pocket of the neoliberal Zionist war machine.
“Zack is best placed to do that in this by-election.”
Mr Williamson’s defection is a blow to the Workers Party, since he was the most prominent politician in its ranks other than Mr Galloway himself.
Nigel Farage 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 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.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
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.
The change in policy is a direct result of sustained pressure from activists and organisers across the Palestine movement. But what comes next?
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We can certainly retain our anger at the government’s complicity. No sanction can offset the foreign policy decisions made by the former prime minister Keir Starmer and former foreign secretary David Lammy, the repression of domestic pro-Palestine advocacy, or the sheer loss of life. But we must balance this with cautious optimism that the political tide is turning.
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The necessary next step is a full arms embargo and an end to cooperation with Israeli security forces – to truly have teeth, these sanctions must not take with one hand and then give with another. Miliband has said that “we’ve already suspended over 30 arms licences used by the IDF in Gaza. That suspension remains fully in place”, and that the government will “now also refuse all licence applications for arms and other exports that materially contribute to the occupation”. But components of F-35 jets continue to be exported to Israel and used for operations in Gaza, as are surveillance technologies such as drones and radar made in the UK by Elbit Systems. This is a total dereliction of duty by the British government.
Miliband’s announcements were a necessary reminder that a just political future is possible and, within it, a reckoning with past crimes. As a campaigner, I have borne witness to Israel’s most egregious human rights violations: I have documented Israeli settlers committing pogroms against the community of Al-Mufaqara, sat in Palestinian villages threatened with home demolitions and army raids, and witnessed the ongoing daily misery of Israel’s apartheid policies. This has all strengthened my motivation to see the end of the Israeli occupation.
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/O74hZCKKdpAKeir 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 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.
Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said she would not join people dismissing policy as ‘theatre’ before details announced. Photograph: Jordi Ruiz Cirera/The Guardian
Exclusive: UN special rapporteur on occupied territories says ban on goods from settlements ‘important’ but must go further if it is to amount to more than a ‘press release’
The UK’s planned ban on trade with unlawful Israeli settlements is a welcome, if overdue, first step and must be judged according to its practical impact, a UN expert has told the Guardian.
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Palestinian groups in the UK are holding judgment until they see the fine detail of Miliband’s policy, due to be announced on Tuesday, but are expecting the most significant shift since a previous foreign secretary, David Lammy, withdrew most arms export licences in September 2024.
Speaking to the Guardian, Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the occupied territories, said a “ban on settlement goods was a change in UK government stance and absolutely important”. She added she would “not join those dismissing it as theatre before the details had been announced”.
She said a settlement trade ban would have to be part of “a true paradigm shift to Israel-Palestine that ultimately seeks to implement the international court of justice advisory opinion in 2024”, which stated that Israel’s presence in the occupied territories was “unlawful in its entirety”. The opinion, she added, said that “all states carry an obligation – not a preference of an obligation – not to recognise the situation as legal, and not render aid and assistance in maintaining it”.
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/O74hZCKKdpAUK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.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.
Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana branded Andy Burnham a ‘boring nice guy’
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Ms Sultana, who represents Coventry South, was first elected in 2019 as a Labour MP. But shortly after the 2024 General Election she was suspended from the Labour Party for rebelling against the party line on the two-child benefit cap.
She later left the party and went on to set up Your Party with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In a debate this [last] week, she said: “The Prime Minister has reeled off a list of policies since coming into office. Interestingly, he has failed to mention one major Intervention: his Government have continued his predecessor’s policy of arming Israel—an apartheid state that has committed and continues to commit genocide in Gaza.
“Instead of deflection and the boring nice-guy act, will he finally admit to the House that he has chosen to continue arming Israel and is therefore complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people?”
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.Genocide denier and Current [former] 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
Chris Williamson outside the Birmingham Civil Justice Centre
