Latest news with #proGaza
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Health secretary Wes Streeting could lose seat to pro-Gaza rival under Labour plans to reduce the voting age to 16
Controversial plans to allow votes at 16 could see four ministers lose their seats to pro-Gaza independents, analysis has shown. Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood are among a string of senior Labour figures at risk from a potential surge in support for independent candidates running on a pro-Palestine platform. Labour has been accused of trying to 'rig the political system' by giving the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds, who have traditionally been seen as being more Left-wing. But analysis by the polling organisation More In Common suggests the big winners could be hard-Left figures such as the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and pro-Gaza independents, who stunned the party by winning four seats at last year's election. The research found there are seven Labour seats where the number of 16 and 17-year-olds is bigger than the sitting MP's majority over a pro-Palestine independent at last year's election. They include Ilford North, where Mr Streeting clung on by just 528 votes, and Birmingham Ladywood, where Ms Mahmood saw her majority slashed to less than 3,500 following a 40 per cent collapse in Labour's vote share. Mr Streeting, who is tipped as a potential future Labour leader, has been urged by allies to seek a safer seat before the next election – known at Westminster as 'doing a chicken run'. But he appeared to rule out the move earlier this year, insisting he does not believe in 'cutting and running'. Ms Mahmood said her local campaign had been 'sullied by harassment and intimidation', with some opponents trying to 'deny' her Muslim faith. Also possibly at risk is the seat of outspoken Home Office minister Jess Phillips, whose majority last year was cut to just 693 following a vigorous campaign by a local pro-Gaza candidate. Ironically, elections minister Rushanara Ali, who is responsible for introducing the change in the law, could also be ousted. Ms Ali held on in Bethnal Green and Stepney by just 1,689 votes last year. Mr Corbyn has already formed a loose 'Independent Alliance' at Westminster with the four pro-Gaza MPs. They are now in talks with former Labour MP Zarah Sultana about creating a new party to fight the next election. The More In Common analysis found that a party led by Mr Corbyn would top the poll with Gen Z voters. The study found that the overall impact of extending the franchise to 16-year-olds was likely to be limited. But it added: 'It is likely that independent candidates running on pro-Gaza tickets could do very well out of this change.' The findings will fuel concerns among some Labour strategists that the rule change could backfire. Election experts have suggested the Greens, Lib Dems and Reforms could do well among the new electorate. Nigel Farage, who has a large youth following on TikTok, accused Labour of an 'attempt to rig the political system', but said: 'We intend to give them a nasty surprise'.
Telegraph
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Britain's new Islamo-Leftist alliance won't last, but it might kill Labour first
Is there space for a new party on the Left, bringing together pro-Gaza activists, radical socialists and possibly Greens? Labour strategists are terrified by the prospect. They know that the only thing they have going for them is the split between the Conservatives and Reform. An equivalent split on the Left would remove that advantage. If you want to understand why Labour caved in so expensively to its rebels on benefits reform, look no further. The party was not prepared to take the Whip away from any more MPs for fear of pushing them into a Corbynite bloc. Luckily for Labour, the Leftist insurgency has so far been more gauche than sinister. Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South who lost the Labour Whip last year, announced in a post on X late on Thursday night that she and Jeremy Corbyn were forming a new party, only for the Absolute Boy to mutter grumpily that he had agreed to no such thing. As I write, no other Labour MP has joined and – the most unkindest cut of all – Momentum has refused to endorse its former idol. Might there yet emerge a serious challenger party, capable of hoovering up 10 or 15 per cent of the vote, and so putting the parties of the Right back into contention? To answer that question, we need to go back to Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. That upheaval was the moment when political Islam became a major factor in world affairs. We should put equal stress on the two parts of its name: Islamic Revolution. Leftist radicals, both in Iran and in the West, loathed the Shah because they saw him as an ally of Britain and the United States, and initially backed the ayatollahs. Most egregious of the Useful Idiots – perhaps Useless Idiot would be more accurate in his case – was Michel Foucault, the archetype of a Left-wing French intellectual, down to his polo-necks and cigarettes, a man whose anti-colonialism was so ferocious that he has escaped cancellation despite the revelation that he paid Arab boys as young as nine for sex. Foucault's dislike of organised religion did not prevent him praising the 'political spirituality' of the mullahs. The Iranian Revolution marked the birth of what the French call 'Islamo-gauchisme'. The ayatollahs had nothing in common with the Left beyond their hatred of monarchy. But they were anti-Western and, in the climate of the Cold War, that was what counted. Iran's Communists formed a tactical alliance with the ayatollahs, imagining that they would emerge as senior partners. Instead, they found themselves proscribed, arrested, tortured and, in 1988, shot in batches. It was an early lesson in where the balance of power lies in these Red-Green alliances. Socialism can exert a quasi-religious pull on its followers. But, alongside an actual religion, it gets squeezed. Which brings us back to Jezza and our opening question. Is there space for a new British party that brings together the various strands of the far-Left, fissiparous, cantankerous and envious as they are? Could the bearded Bolshevik unite conservative Islamists and revolutionary socialists around the one position which, for very different reasons, they share, namely hostility to the West in general and Israel in particular? On paper, the answer is no. The radical Left is already (to use a word Corbo likes) rammed. There is the Communist Party of Britain, the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) and the Revolutionary Communist Party. There is the Socialist Party (England and Wales), the Socialist Party of Great Britain, the Socialist Workers' Party and the Socialist Equality Party. There's Left Unity and Transform and the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and… oh, you get the picture. Then again, all this was just as true in 2015, when Corbyn, who had had dealings with most of these groups, swept to national prominence. Might the circumstances of that fevered, phantasmagoric year replicate themselves? It is still not easy to explain Corbyn's 2015 appeal. Similar candidates had contested previous Labour leadership contests: John McDonnell in 2007, Diane Abbott in 2010. Corbo himself had been an unnoticed MP for more than 30 years. Yet a series of factors somehow made the old boob a cult figure and, in 2017, came close to putting him in Downing Street. One of those factors was the radicalisation of the growing Muslim electorate. An extraordinary 85 per cent of British Muslims voted for Corbyn in 2017, and 86 per cent in 2019, though the Labour figure fell back in 2024 with the rise of the pro-Gaza independents. Sectarian voting is ugly, whomever it benefits. Those elections also saw massive swings to the Conservatives among Jewish and Hindu voters. Indeed, the sole Tory gain in 2024 was the strongly Hindu seat of Leicester East. The trouble is that confessional voting encourages complacency and corruption. When communities feel obliged to vote for 'their' team, candidates make less effort to convince on grounds of either ideology or competence. We are accustomed to the idea that British Muslims lean Left, but there is nothing inevitable about it. Many first-generation Pakistani and Bangladeshi immigrants were low-paid manual workers, often employed by the state. But that is less true today: British Muslims are likelier than the general population to be self-employed. In Muslim-majority democracies, the Left tends to be secular. The more religious parties, on top of being socially conservative, are the more prone to cut taxes and reduce regulations. This should not surprise us, for Islam is the only great religion founded by a businessman – a businessman who used his last sermon to preach the sanctity of property. Jesus said some hard things about wealth, and it was not until the sixteenth century that Christians stopped holding up poverty as their ideal. But Islam never had any problem with the idea that money, honestly acquired and put to good use, was a blessing. The Prophet, after all, had established tax-free markets and rejected calls for prices to be regulated. Across the Islamic wold, from Morocco to Malaysia, anti-Western feeling is stronger on the secular Left. But in Britain, Muslims were for a long time seen primarily, not as people who believed in the Oneness of God and the finality of the teachings of Mohammad, but as a non-white minority to be slotted into a victim role in an imagined hierarchy of oppression. That is why British Islamo-gauchism rests on anti-colonialism, and especially on the portrayal of Israel as the ultimate colonial oppressor. George Galloway understood earlier than most how the balance was shifting. Having once won awards from Stonewall, he began to describe himself as 'socially conservative', made sceptical noises about the portrayal of gay relationships and came out against abortion and euthanasia, while at the same time growing a beard, boasting that he did not drink and littering his speech with Islamic expressions. A challenger party that aims to get into double figures will, I suspect, lean more to Galloway's approach than Corbyn's. Which makes me wonder how many revolutionary socialists will go along with it. Let me suggest an early test. In Apsana Begum's Poplar and Limehouse constituency, 39 per cent of residents identify as Muslim and 24 per cent as Christian. If she is the next Labour MP to defect, it will tell us much about the likely orientation of the new party. The Red-Green coalition, which came together in the hideous mésalliance known as Stop the War, might hold for a bit longer. But, in time, omnicause Lefties will be squeezed out – though not, one assumes, thrown off buildings like their Iranian colleagues. The face of Britain is changing, and our parties are changing with it. Some Corbynites may live long enough to wonder, whether, in getting rid of something they disliked, they ended up enabling something worse.
The Independent
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Kendrick Lamar performer arrested months after Gaza Super Bowl stunt
Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, a performer at the Super Bowl halftime show on 9 February, was arrested after holding up a Sudanese flag with a "Sudan and Free Gaza" message. Police alleged Nantambu, 41, had permission to be on the field but "deviated from his assigned role" by interrupting the performance. He surrendered himself on 26 June after an arrest warrant was obtained, and was booked on charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace by interruption of a lawful assembly. Louisiana State Police took over the investigation from New Orleans police due to Nantambu's access to a highly secured area. The NFL commended the Louisiana State Police for their diligence and banned Nantambu from attending any future NFL games or events. Kendrick Lamar performer who held up pro-Gaza flag during Super Bowl halftime show is arrested
BreakingNews.ie
15-05-2025
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
Ben & Jerry's co-founder arrested after US Capitol Gaza protest
The co-founder of Ben & Jerry's has been arrested after disrupting a US Senate hearing with a pro-Gaza protest. Ben Cohen of the famous ice cream company was one of seven people said to have been arrested at a committee hearing on Wednesday while US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr was speaking, US news outlets are reporting. Advertisement Kennedy came under fire during the hearing from lawmakers who said he has made false statements over vaccine testing and safety since taking the nation's top health job. Some protesters shouting opposition to Kennedy's positions were dragged out by police, including Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. "You're killing poor kids in Gaza and paying for it by cutting Medicaid for kids here," shouted Cohen, who had attended a pro-Palestine event with Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib earlier on Wednesday, referring to Medicaid cuts proposed in the Republican spending bill and US support for Israel's war in Gaza. Afterwards, Cohen tweeted out a video of the incident, saying: "I told Congress they're killing poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs, and they're paying for it by kicking poor kids off Medicaid in the US. Advertisement "This was the authorities' response." The committee hearing was Kennedy's first appearance in the US Congress since his confirmation as Health and Human Services Secretary in February, facing questions over everything from his mass layoffs at federal health agencies to his handling of a worsening US measles outbreak. Some of the most heated exchanges centered on his remarks on vaccines. Kennedy has for years sown doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, but pledged to maintain the country's existing vaccine standards to secure his appointment in the Trump administration. Republican US Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana who helped pave the way for Kennedy's confirmation, corrected the secretary's assertion that the Covid-19 vaccine is the only shot tested against a placebo in clinical trials. Advertisement "The Secretary said no vaccines, except for Covid, have been evaluated against placebo. For the record, that's not true," said Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben and Jerry's, was detained by police. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty "Coronavirus, measles, and HPV vaccines have been, and some vaccines are tested against previous versions, just for the record," said Cassidy, who chairs the Senate HELP Committee. Democratic Senator Christopher Murphy of Connecticut said Kennedy had not lived up to his commitment to Cassidy and the committee during his confirmation hearing. "As soon as you were sworn in, you announced new standards for vaccine approvals that you proudly referred to in your own press release as a radical departure from current practice, and experts say that departure will delay approvals," said Murphy. Advertisement "You also said, specific to the measles vaccine, that you support the measles vaccine, but you have consistently been undermining the measles vaccine," Murphy said. "You told the public that the vaccine wanes very quickly... and said that the measles vaccine was never properly tested for safety. You said there's fetal debris in the measles vaccine." "All true," Kennedy shouted back as Murphy listed his comments. "I'm not going to just tell people everything is safe and effective if I know that there's issues," he said. The measles vaccine has been shown to be safe and highly effective at preventing infection and does not contain fetal debris. Kennedy has drawn condemnation from health officials for what they say is a weak endorsement of measles shots during an outbreak that has infected more than 1,000, mostly unvaccinated, people and killed three. Advertisement Audience members at the HELP hearing wore stickers saying "When Bobby lies, children die," and "anti-vax, anti-science, anti-America" in reference to Kennedy's vaccine views. 'Up to me' Kennedy has said his top priorities as health secretary include identifying the environmental contributors to autism and tackling rising rates of chronic disease. He has vowed to remake the nation's health agencies, including cutting 10,000 jobs at the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. Wednesday's Senate hearing and one before a House Appropriations subcommittee earlier in the day were meant to review Kennedy's health-related spending plans under president Donald Trump's budget proposal, including an $18 billion cut to NIH funding and $3.6 billion from the CDC. Democrats and other critics have portrayed the cuts as a gutting of the country's public health infrastructure. Kennedy told the Appropriations Committee they would save taxpayers $1.8 billion per year and make the department more efficient. "Our reductions have focused on aligning HHS staffing levels to reflect the size of HHS prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw around a 15 per cent increase in the number of employees," Kennedy said in his opening statement to the House subcommittee. World 'No way' Israel will halt war in Gaza until Hamas... Read More The cuts and firings were his decision, not edicts from Elon Musk, Kennedy said when asked about the billionaire Trump ally's involvement. Musk is leading the DOGE initiative to cut government funding and reshape the federal bureaucracy. "Elon Musk gave us help in trying and figuring out where there was fraud and abuse in the department," Kennedy testified. "But it was up to me to make the decision, and there are many instances where I pushed back." Kennedy said he was willing to work with Democrats on lowering prescription drug prices in response to a question from Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who votes with Democrats. Trump signed an executive order on Monday directing drugmakers to lower their prices to align with what other countries pay that analysts and legal experts said would be difficult to implement.
Sky News
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Ben & Jerry's co-founder arrested after US Capitol Gaza protest
The co-founder of Ben & Jerry's has been arrested after disrupting a Senate hearing with a pro-Gaza protest. Ben Cohen, Ben of the famous ice cream company Ben & Jerry's, was one of seven people said to have been arrested at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sky News' US partner NBC News reported. Robert F Kennedy Jr was speaking to the committee when the protests started with someone shouting: "RFK kills people with AIDs!" "When Bobby lies, children die," is also heard, as well as: "Anti-vax, anti-science, anti-America" in reference to Mr Kennedy's vaccine views. Police quickly flooded into the room and began dragging out protesters. Moments after, Mr Cohen got to his feet and accused the US government of playing a role in the deaths of children in Gaza. The ice cream boss can be seen in footage of the incident on his feet, gesturing as he shouted at the US health secretary. "You're killing poor kids in Gaza and paying for it by cutting Medicaid for kids here," shouted Mr Cohen. He is one of the last protesters hauled out of the room. But even as he's removed, he can still be heard shouting. "Congress and the senators need to ease the siege. They need to let food into Gaza. They need to let food to starving kids," he said. The other six protesters were charged with resisting arrest and assault on an officer, NBC News said. Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Cohen had attended a pro-Palestine event with Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib. Afterwards, Mr Cohen tweeted out a video of the incident, saying: "I told Congress they're killing poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs, and they're paying for it by kicking poor kids off Medicaid in the US. "This was the authorities' response." Mr Cohen is no stranger to protests or getting arrested. In July 2023, he was arrested after protesting about the US prosecution of Julian Assange. 'Poor kids in Gaza' Israel has killed around 53,000 Palestinians during its war with Hamas, many of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The Gaza health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children. It is said the real death toll in Gaza is higher because thousands of bodies remain buried under the rubble or in areas that medics cannot access. The fighting began after the militant group led an attack across the border in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage. Since Israel broke a ceasefire on 18 March, almost 3,000 people have been killed, the ministry said.
