Latest news with #RedLineforPalestine
Qatar Tribune
3 days ago
- Politics
- Qatar Tribune
Pro-Palestine protesters in UK call for Israel arms embargo and sanctions
agencies london Pro-Palestine campaigners have rallied against Israel's punishing war on Gaza, gathering outside the British Parliament in London and demanding a full arms embargo and that hard-hitting sanctions be imposed on the Israeli government. Wednesday's march, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), came as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer took weekly questions from parliamentarians. Thousands of protesters created a 'Red Line for Palestine', wearing red while encircling the building. Starmer told Parliament that Israel's actions in the besieged and bombarded enclave are 'appalling' and 'intolerable'. 'It is right to describe these days as dark,' Starmer said. 'We have strongly opposed the expansion of Israeli military operations, and settler violence, and the blocking of humanitarian aid.'Starmer added that the UK has imposed sanctions, suspended free trade negotiations, and is currently considering further sanctions. But the UK leader, his Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and his government have come under heavy criticism in the UK for not speaking more forcefully backed by actual action earlier in the war, and for not doing enough now as Palestinians face what United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called the 'cruellest phase of this cruel conflict'. Al Jazeera's Rory Challands, reporting from London, said the protest went on for several hours and throughout Starmer's entire speech to Parliament. 'There was a red line around the whole of Parliament,' Challands said. According to Challands, protesters say that their 'red line' is to show that the UK government should have its own red lines when it comes to Gaza.
New Statesman
3 days ago
- General
- New Statesman
Labour MPs are revolting on Gaza
Photo by House of Commons It has been 606 days since the start of the war in Gaza and according to Gaza's health ministry, as of 5 May, 52,615 people have died. The conflict has reached a turning point; a 'dark new phase' as the Foreign Secretary David Lammy recently described it. Today, the US-backed organisation operating aid distribution centres in Gaza announced they would be closed all day. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) told people in Gaza this morning, that 'travel is prohibited…via the roads leading to the distribution centres, which are considered combat zones'. Entry into the areas around the distribution centres is 'strictly prohibited'. This follows an 11-week blockade of aid, food and water into Gaza, and attacks by Israeli forces on Palestinians near aid distribution centres, the last of which left at least 27 Palestinians dead (Israel's military has denied firing 'near or within' the site). On 19 May Keir Starmer signed a joint statement with the leaders of France and Canada strongly opposing Israel's military operations. But has the Prime Minister's position shifted tangibly yet? The UK has not recognised Palestine as an official nation and has not withdrawn from the F-35 jet fighter programme (the government's riposte for not withdrawing is that remaining in the programme is important for Nato's peace and security). These were two issues which Hamish Falconer, the minister for the Middle East, was quizzed on for more than an hour in the House of Commons today. Falconer was called in front of MPs to answer an Urgent Question (UQ) from the Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree, Paula Barker. In his statement to the House, Falconer said Israel's block on aid into Gaza was 'unjustified' and 'inhumane'. The Israeli government's decision to 'expand its military operations in Gaza and severely restrict aid undermine' the push for peace and release of the remaining hostages. But he stopped short of telling MPs that any further action would be taken by the government. Unusually, all MPs who spoke in the session were united in the belief that the violence in Gaza must end. A row of back-bench Labour MPs, all of whom had attended the Red Line for Palestine protest which congregated in Parliament Square earlier that day, and many of whom were wearing red, loomed at the back of the chamber. They were joined by the independent MP Zarah Sultana, who used her question to criticise Lammy ('It is a disgrace that the Foreign Secretary isn't here. But it isn't surprising.') The group could be seen shaking their heads and rolling their eyes each time Falconer gave an unsatisfactory answer. As the MP who brought the UQ, Barker kicked off proceedings, asking the minister, 'what more evidence do we need to call this exactly what it is – a policy of annexation and genocide'. She added: 'History will not look kindly on this government.' Richard Burgon asked why, if the government had sanctioned Vladimir Putin after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, would it not sanction Israeli politicians. 'This reek of double standards,' he said, 'Netanyahu will see the government as weak, weak, a pushover and a joke.' Falconer responded: 'Let us not pretend this government has done nothing. We have taken measures, and we will continue to do so.' Meanwhile, various Conservative MPs also used this session to criticise the government. Kit Malthouse, the Tory MP for North West Hampshire pointed out that in the three weeks since Falconer last gave a commons statement on Gaza, Israel said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank. 'It feels like the whole House has been played,' said Malthouse. 'He shows up, he mouths the words and very occasionally the government leaks out just enough sanctions to keep the Labour benches from open revolt.' As Falconer responded ('I'm under no illusion of the severity of the situation we currently face'), Malthouse shouted back, incensed, 'they're killing dozens of people, every day'. The 90-minute session ended flatly. In the minutes afterwards, Jeremy Corbyn took his moment to present his Ten-Minute Rule Bill, which he had hoped might force the government's hand on Gaza, if sent to a vote of all MPs. (Falconer had already rejected Corbyn's request during the UQ, 'I do not see… what an independent inquiry would achieve'). Instead, it was waved through by the Deputy Speaker, who urged the independent MPs who had shouted 'no' in order to force a vote, to retract their objection unless they actually meant it. They all did so. It is now up to the government to decide whether to progress the bill. Corbyn pointed out that today's events in the Commons reveal that 'some politicians have finally started to backtrack'. He added: 'Perhaps they are frightened by the consequences of their inhumanity.' Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe It is clear now that the government can no longer rely on speeches and statements to convince MPs they are sufficiently committed to action on Gaza. Falconer's defence that the government is waiting for 'something to change' before its next move repeatedly fell flat. Because something has changed: Israel's actions in Palestine are clearly no longer simply an act of self-defence – but of systematic aggression. The government has run out of time for equivocation on Gaza – it is already starting to look weak. [See more: Inside No 10's new dysfunction] Related
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Pro-Palestine protesters in UK call for Israel arms embargo, sanctions
Pro-Palestine campaigners have rallied against Israel's punishing war on Gaza, gathering outside the British Parliament in London and demanding a full arms embargo and that hard-hitting sanctions be imposed on the Israeli government. Wednesday's march, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), came as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer took weekly questions from parliamentarians. Thousands of protesters created a 'Red Line for Palestine', wearing red while encircling the building. Starmer told Parliament that Israel's actions in the besieged and bombarded enclave are 'appalling' and 'intolerable'. 'It is right to describe these days as dark,' Starmer said. 'We have strongly opposed the expansion of Israeli military operations, and settler violence, and the blocking of humanitarian aid.' Starmer added that the UK has imposed sanctions, suspended free trade negotiations, and is currently considering further sanctions. But the UK leader, his Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and his government have come under heavy criticism in the UK for not speaking more forcefully backed by actual action earlier in the war, and for not doing enough now as Palestinians face what United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called the 'cruellest phase of this cruel conflict'. Al Jazeera's Rory Challands, reporting from London, said the protest went on for several hours and throughout Starmer's entire speech to Parliament. 'There was a red line around the whole of Parliament,' Challands said. 'These protesters had formed a cordon, essentially all the way down from Parliament to the first bridge … that goes across to the other side of the [River] Thames, and they came back up … and returned over Westminster Bridge to join up here to make a full loop,' he added. According to Challands, protesters say that their 'red line' is to show that the UK government should have its own red lines when it comes to Gaza. It has not had 'sufficient' red lines in place, he said. 'The protesters say there should have been red lines before 54,000 deaths.' In his remarks, Starmer also called for an end to the siege and said humanitarian aid must reach Gaza quickly and in the required quantities. Israel has maintained a crippling blockade on the territory, barring the entry of much-needed aid, including food, medicine, clean water, and fuel required by generators. A famine now looms as more than two million people are facing starvation, the UN has warned. Meanwhile, a controversial, United States-backed group that runs aid distribution points in Gaza – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – has suspended operations for a full day. The move came after Israeli forces opened fire at hungry aid seekers several times, killing dozens of Palestinians and injuring hundreds more since the organisation started operating in the enclave on May 27. The killing of people desperately seeking food supplies has triggered mounting international outrage as many say aid is being weaponised and with the UN's Guterres demanding an independent inquiry. Israel's war on Gaza has killed at least 54,607 Palestinians and wounded 125,341, according to the Health Ministry.
