The majority (66%) of Black and minority ethnic people support stronger calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and deeper compassion for Palestinians in UK politics with just 9% opposing it.
A breakdown of the Runnymede survey by party allegiance found that most Labour (75%) and Tory (66%) supporters backed a ceasefire. While 70% of British Bangladeshi and 71% of British Pakistani communities want more support for public displays of pro-Palestinian solidarity, the figure rises to 72% of Black and other minority ethnic Muslim people.
The consensus among the BAME communities aligns with the general population. A YouGov poll conducted last year found that 76% of the UK public back a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Global South, as evidenced by UN votes at both the General Assembly and Security Council, also supports a ceasefire in Gaza to stop the slaughter of Palestinian civilians.
Unsurprisingly, the US and the UK continued to defy the global consensus, voting against, and abstaining, respectively, from a humanitarian ceasefire resolution backed by 153 countries last month.
Even when (in a first) the overwhelming majority (13 of 15) of the more powerful UN Security Council voted for a humanitarian ceasefire and demanded that all parties adhere to international law, notably regarding civilian protection, the US once again vetoed the resolution and the UK abstained.
Domestically, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party have also called for a humanitarian ceasefire; however, their support is futile given the current position of the main opposition.
Any optimism that Labour, a party led by a human rights barrister and projected a ’97-style landslide victory in this year’s general election, would shift foreign policy and challenge Israel’s impunity has been definitively dashed in the last four months.
The opposition leader, Keir Starmer, has joined the government in rejecting calls for a full ceasefire. Instead, they aligned themselves with the US position of promoting brief humanitarian “pauses” that most human rights NGOs dismissed as ineffective in ending the soaring Palestinian death toll.
The government’s and Labour’s obstinate indifference to the global perspective on this conflict prompted the Editor of The Muslim News, Ahmed J Versi, to question Starmer during his Middle East policy speech in Chatham House on whether his unwillingness to call for a ceasefire stems from a selective humanity that places less value on Palestinian life compared to Israeli life.
“Each life matters. Each life is equal, and I don’t want to look at an image of an Israeli child dead or a Palestinian child dead and distinguish between the two. Loss of any single innocent civilian life is equally valued,” replied Starmer.
Absent from his reply is a clear justification for his acceptance of mass Palestinian deaths as inevitable. At the time of Starmer’s policy speech, Palestinian deaths from Israel’s indiscriminate bombing stood at 9,000, including 4,000 children.
However, the reluctance of the US and the UK, Israel’s closest allies, to advocate for a ceasefire attributed to 16,000 more deaths, including 7,000 Palestinian children.
Members of Britain’s largest unions used a regular meeting with Starmer last week to urge him to be more critical of Israel following weeks of tension within the Labour Party over the issue.
Not content with quashing Labour’s advocacy for Palestinians today, Starmer has quashed any backing in the future, reassuring the Jewish Community Centre London that there was “no risk” that Labour would recognise Palestine.
Elaborating further on his party’s u-turn on the pledge to recognise Palestine, Shadow Middle East Minister Wayne David told the Jewish Chronicle that a two-state solution could only come “in a way which is acceptable to the state of Israel.”
This, say critics, suggests Labour will never back a independent Palestine. “If such a state is ever born, it will be because of the colossal international pressure on Israel. Waiting until it’s “acceptable” to Israel “means never,” writes Guardian columnist Owen Jones.
Palestine has been recognized by most countries in Asia, including China, Russia, and India, as well as most countries in Africa and South America.
Once again, it was the Global South that offered a glimmer of hope for Palestinian justice in this crisis with South Africa asking the International Court of Justice to consider whether Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians.
South Africa told the court that the Israeli government’s attack on Gaza, and especially its collective punishment in the form of indiscriminate bombings and the cutting of food, water, and medicine supplies to Gaza since early October, amounts to genocide.
The evidence submitted by South Africa claims “acts and omissions” by Israel “are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial, and ethnic group.”
This refers to what Israel is actively doing, such as launching air strikes, and what it is allegedly failing to do, such as preventing harm to civilians.
In the event that the International Court of Justice does not find that Israel is committing genocidal acts, South Africa has argued that Israeli forces have demonstrated an intent to commit genocidal acts, and that an interim ceasefire order should be issued.
The ICJ ruling is currently the only way to stop the slaughter. The so-called “civilised” West has not only spectacularly failed to end this humanitarian catastrophe it has exacerbated it by financially, militarily and diplomatically aiding what is now, according to most human rights bodies, the world’s last apartheid state.
A Pariah state that has dehumanised Palestinians for decades, to the point where ceasefire discussions are ongoing despite 25,000 deaths in 100 days.
Photo:The Israeli flag projected on Downing Street on October 8, 2023. (Credit: Rory Arnold/No 10 Downing Street)
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