General Election 2024: The Labour MPs Who Oppose Israel’s Genocide in Gaza, and Those Who Support It
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Ever since Rishi Sunak announced that a General Election would take place on July 4, some commentators have been suggesting that those of us who are implacably opposed to Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza — as all decent people should be — should boycott the Labour Party entirely, because of the unconditional support for Israel demonstrated by Keir Starmer and key members of his shadow cabinet.
Starmer, shamefully, told LBC on October 11 that Israel had “the right” to withhold power and water from Gaza, while claiming that, “Obviously, everything should be done within international law”, even though, as a former human rights lawyer, he must have known that international law prohibits withholding power and water from a civilian population, because it is collective punishment, and a war crime under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which entered into force in October 1950.
Emily Thornberry and David Lammy were also criticised for statements they made in the first week of Israel’s ultra-violent response to the deadly attacks by Hamas and other militants on October 7, and were all included in “a notice of intention to prosecute UK politicians for their role in aiding and abetting Israel’s perpetration of war crimes”, issued on October 16 by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), “an independent organisation of lawyers, politicians and academics who support the rights of Palestinians and aim to protect their rights through the law.”
Photos and Report: The Close Guantánamo March and Rally in Central London, Jan. 20, 2024
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On Saturday (January 20), a colourful and inspiring march and rally for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay took place in central London, organized by the UK Guantánamo Network, which consists of members of a number of local Amnesty International groups from across London and the south east, plus other campaigners, myself included.
The event was organized to mark the recent 22nd anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, on January 11, when a handful of campaigners braved bitterly cold weather to stage a vigil outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms, as part of the monthly coordinated global vigils for Guantánamo’s closure that I initiated a year ago. See here for my report about, and photos from the 16 vigils that took place in the US and around the world to mark the anniversary.
Complementing that vigil, the march and rally took place on a Saturday for maximum visibility, and would have taken place on Saturday January 13 had it not been for the fact that a massive March for Palestine was scheduled for that particular date, which I posted photos of — and commentary about — here.
Photos and Report: The Latest Coordinated Global Vigils for the Closure of Guantánamo on July 5, 2023
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Last Wednesday, July 5, coordinated vigils took place around the world calling for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay. My apologies for posting the photos and this report so late, but I took a week’s holiday beginning the day of the vigils, which involved a healthy seven days of digital detox, and I’m only just now back online.
The vigils take place on the first Wednesday of every month, and began in February, when I put a call out to friends and colleagues across the US, and in Mexico City, Brussels and Copenhagen, to join the monthly vigils that campaigners in London had been undertaking since September last year, drawing on a long tradition of vigils for the closure of Guantánamo outside the Houses of Parliament.
For the development of the vigils, please see the photos and reports from March, April, May and June.
Who's still at Guantánamo?
