here’s what the parties really think of Israel and Gaza

  • Post last modified:July 4, 2024
  • Reading time:7 mins read


With only hours to go until voting closes in the general election, it’s time to take a look at which parliamentary candidates are supporting the Palestine Solidarity campaigns (PSC) election demands:

Vote Gaza

As the Canary previously reported, last month PSC published the first set of responses from political candidates to its “Vote Palestine 2024” initiative for the UK general election. The results threw up some interesting results. Including Nigel Farage stating privately that he was afraid of people branding him an antisemite if he condemns Israel.

PSC drafted six questions for all parliamentary candidates. Constituents were able to send them electronically to their local candidates, that they could commit to if elected.

The questions included an immediate ceasefire, restoration of funding to UNRWA, and an arms embargo. It also called for political candidates to express support for the ICJ and ICC to uphold international humanitarian law. As well as these, there was a question about suspending trade agreements with Israel. Additionally, it put forward a query on protecting the right to protest, boycott, and divest from companies that are complicit in violations of international law

Subsequently, thousands of people responded by writing to their local candidates. PSC published the answers on their website:

Surprisingly, the responses included that of Reform UK candidate Edward Apostolides who commented that:

I will do everything within my power, if I am elected as a MP, to bring Israel to account. I will table emergency debates and champion private member bills to that end. I know I enjoy the full support of our party leader, Nigel Farage, who privately deplores the actions of the current Israeli government, but dare not publicly denounce it for fear of being branded an antisemite.

Of course, it says a lot when even Nigel Farage privately deplores the actions of the Israeli government. How many more politicians are too afraid to speak out? Furthermore, why are we still equating condemning the actions of the Israeli government with antisemitism?

Politicians cannot ignore Palestine

Over 37,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel. Shockingly, this includes approximately 16,000 children, in what the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has accepted as a plausible case of genocide:

Moreover, the ICC is currently seeking arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and defence minister – alongside Hamas leaders – for crimes against humanity. Specifically, the charges against Israeli leaders include using starvation as a weapon of war:

Ultimately, this didn’t start on the 7 October like the corporate media would like you to believe.

It is built on the foundations of decades of violations of Palestinian rights by Israel in which successive British governments have been complicit. These realities have made the issue of justice for Palestinians a core electoral issue for constituents across Britain.

Feature image via the Canary





Source link

Tags: , , , , ,