The Palestine solidarity movement will converge on Liverpool for the Labour Party conference to demand the government take action on Israel’s genocide. Meanwhile, inside the conference it’s emerged that Labour Party officials have banned the use of the words “genocide” and “apartheid” in publicity materials – in relation to Israel’s genocide and apartheid.
The 19th national march for Palestine since October 2023 will take place on Saturday 21 September and is the first to be held outside London. Tens of thousands of demonstrators will march through Liverpool to the perimeter of the Labour Party conference to demand the UK government take meaningful action to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza and in support of Palestinian rights.
The march leaves St George’s Plateau, Lime St Station, Liverpool at 12pm. There will be a rally at Pier Head from 2pm. Full details are here.
Labour protest
In the first national March for Palestine outside of London, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and its coalition partners have brought the movement for freedom, justice and equality for Palestinians to the Labour Party conference.
On Wednesday, the UN General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to affirm the historic ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July and trigger the legal obligation of all states to end complicity in Israel’s illegal occupation and apartheid regime, including through an arms embargo.
Shamefully, the UK abstained in the vote, following a pattern of complicity with Israel’s violations of international law.
Despite the continuation of what the ICJ accepted to be a plausible case of genocide in Gaza, and the application made by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, the UK government has continued to speak of Israel as a key ally.
Earlier this month the Foreign Secretary David Lammy accepted that there is a clear risk that UK arms exports might be used to commit serious violations of international law – but his response – to suspend 30 out of 350 arms export licenses to Israel – has been condemned as inadequate and ineffective by campaigners. In particular, he excluded indirect exports of components to Israel for the F-35 combat aircraft, known to have been used to massacre civilians in Gaza.
Banned from saying ‘genocide’
Whilst the national March for Palestine will be outside conference, PSC will continue its work inside the conference with two important fringe meetings on Monday 23 September.
At 1pm “Labour, Palestine, and Islamophobia” will be a discussion on the alienation of Muslim and other minority communities from Labour due to its position on Gaza and what the party must do to recover lost support and confront the threat of the far right.
At 6pm a panel on “Justice for Palestine: confronting genocide and ending apartheid” will urge the government to do more to end Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza and unlawful occupation.
PSC was not allowed to use the words “genocide” or “apartheid” in their description of their fringe meeting in the official conference guide, which instead lists the fringe meeting simply as ‘Justice for Palestine’.
This is yet another example of the Labour leadership refusing to address the realities affirmed by numerous human rights monitoring bodies, and this year by the ICJ, that Israel is practising the crime of apartheid. It also ignores the evidence accepted as plausible by the ICJ that Israel is now committing the crime of genocide.
PSC has also been supported by constituency Labour parties and trade unions in attempting to secure a motion for debate on Palestine at the conference. Motions on Palestine – calling for international law to be upheld and a complete stop to arms exports to Israel – are on the conference agenda, but it has not yet been decided whether they will be debated.
It is feared that factions linked to the party leadership will seek to push the motions off the agenda to avoid embarrassment to the government, and avoid any discussions that are critical of Israel’s actions or call for its government to be held to account.
Israel IS committing genocide – yet Labour won’t let you say it
Ben Jamal, PSC Director, said:
Israel is committing a genocide, after decades of illegal military occupation of Palestinian land and decades of practicing the crime of apartheid on all Palestinians. The vast majority of the world’s governments believe it is time Israel was held to account and sanctioned for repeatedly and flagrantly violating international law. The narrow band of governments that stand in the way of upholding international law shamefully includes our own.
The Labour government knows that Israel is committing crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. But instead of honouring its obligations under international law, it is still seeking to shield Israel from accountability. It is shocking and unacceptable that this government would remain actively complicit with a state that commits genocide and practices apartheid, but that is the case. That is why we bring our movement for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality to the Labour party conference.
The wider labour movement, as demonstrated by the motion passed unanimously by the TUC at its recent congress, is calling for action to hold Israel to account including a full arms embargo. Opinion polls show that these demands are supported by members in the Labour party and by the wider public. This is a moral test for Keir Starmer and the Labour leadership. They need to stand up for the implementation of international law and be bold in confronting those who undermine it, no matter who they are.
Featured image via the Canary
