Israel ambassador causes storm with gig at Labour conference

  • Post last modified:September 26, 2024
  • Reading time:10 mins read


If the new Labour government signalled one thing indisputably at its party conference this year, is that it’s an unrepentant apologist for genocidal war criminals. This was particularly apparent at a Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) official fringe event. There, cabinet members – half themselves funded by the pro-Israel lobby group – welcomed Israel’s hard right genocide-mongering ambassador with open arms. Obviously, this was in sharp contrast to its violent repressive reception towards activists protesting for Palestine at conference.

Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely’s disgusting genocidal rap-sheet has been hard to miss. But it didn’t stop Labour’s top-dogs hobnobbing will Hotovely anyway.

LFI at Labour conference hosting genocide-mongers

It’s now nearly a year into Israel’s indiscriminate genocide in Gaza where it has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, and displaced 90% of the population. Meanwhile, the violent settler colonial state has turned its sights on Lebanon in another slew of likely war crime massacres. There, it has launched a brutal bombing campaign – killing hundreds and already displacing over 90,000 people.

As all this continues, the Labour Party conference hosted Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely. It was at a fringe event hosted by LFI.

As the Canary previously highlighted, conference also welcomed former IDF general and opposition leader Yair Golan. Golan has a torrid history in the oppressive occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank. And less than a week ago, Golan was calling for Israel to invade and occupy Lebanon. Declassified journalist John McEvoy also pointed out this is guy who has effectively called for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people:

Naturally, he met with Starmer and foreign secretary David Lammy. This was to discuss removal of the UK’s few arms embargoes on Israel.

But, if Golan’s conference cameo was a sign of the utterly depraved moral vacuity of Starmer’s Labour government, Hotovely’s warm welcome only added fuel to the fire.

Cabinet cosying up to Israel’s genocidal ambassador to the UK

This is because the far right ambassador has also been vocally, unashamedly genocidal – and on numerous occasions at that.

Just since Israel began its siege on the strip, she has voiced murderous ethnic cleansing intent to the UK corporate press:

However, she has been at this long before 7 October:

Moreover, in 2017 Hotovely went on a rancid rant in the Knesset. She called Palestinians “thieves of history” in a tirade effectively claiming that Palestinians don’t exist.

After Israel appointed her its ambassador to the UK in 2020, she then went on another bigoted diatribe. This time it was a full on Nakba denial crusade:

Unsurprisingly, her Zionist ethnostate-fueled racism hasn’t stopped there either:

With friends like these, Palestine protesters are the enemy

Naturally, none of this has stopped key government cabinet members from cosying up to Golan or Hotovely:

But then, Starmer’s apartheid and genocide apologists have form on this. In 2021, pro-Palestine activists demonstrated against London School of Economics for hosting Hotovely in a debate. As Labour leader, Starmer lambasted the protests:

Fast-forward to his Labour government and it’s more of the same shameless apologism for Israel. When a pro-Palestine activist challenged chancellor Rachel Reeves on the government’s arms to Israel, she essentially said that the party has no patience for protest. Still, there was ample time for the LFI vice-chair to snap a piccie with the genocide ambassador:

With friends like these genocidal war criminals:

Call for the complete murderous annihilation of Gaza and Palestine and Labour will roll out the red carpet. Demand the government stop sending arms to the genocidal maniacs mercilessly murdering Palestinians? A jumped up Labour councillor (yes, you read that right) will get you in a chokehold and drag you from the conference hall. And all with the support of a vitriol-frenzied crowd.

By contrast, the crowd at LFI’s event:

Of course, it’s all for the so-called two-state solution the Israeli ambassador – among many other officials in Israel – has outright said they don’t want anyway:

If there were any lingering doubts that the new Labour government would be anything other than genocide-abetting war criminals themselves, this should finally put that to rest.

Featured image via screengrab





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