At long last, the UK is changing course on Israel

Submitted by Chris Doyle on Tue, 09/29/2026 - 19:44 Years of pressure from pro-Palestine civil society activists are paying off, as Miliband acknowledges: 'You were right'

Pro-Palestine supporters hold a demonstration in London on 11 October 2025 (Henry Nicholls/AFP) On

In a dramatic speech in Liverpool this week, British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told the annual Labour Party conference that those fighting for Palestinian justice had been right. He and his colleagues repeated the message at events across the Merseyside city.

”I want to say to the millions of people in this country, and indeed elsewhere who have been moved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people, we hear you,” Miliband said.

“You were right.”

It was hugely appreciated, helping to further drain the poison that had affected the entire Labour leadership’s relationship with its base, and the wider country, over the past three years.

The issue of Palestine has become demonstrably less toxic. As an advocate for Palestinian rights, it feels strange to be able to engage freely with ministers.

For the last three years, under both Conservative and Labour governments, civil society organisations - aside from groups openly associated with Israel - have almost all opposed British policy. I have attended meetings with senior political figures from both parties, alongside human rights groups and aid agencies - and we have left feeling gaslit.

Ministers and officials dodged direct questions, or claimed that it was all very complex. Some of the people in the room, like myself, had worked on the issue of Palestine for several decades, but were apparently incapable of understanding the inner dimensions of what was going on.

Doors and minds open

As far as I can determine, as someone involved with many civil society groups, Miliband was the first foreign secretary in three years to meet with leaders of aid agencies and human rights organisations on Palestine at the Foreign Office. Imagine: the very groups whose workers on the ground were delivering lifesaving aid in Gaza, while putting their own lives on the line, were ignored.

That has changed. Ministerial doors, and minds, are now open.

Over the past three years, millions of protesters have marched for justice for Palestinians in British cities and elsewhere, in events that have been collectively smeared as “antisemitic hate marches”. Here, too, Miliband struck a different tone when asked in a media interview about the ban on Palestine Action; he admitted something was wrong when it led to criminalising vicars and grannies.

Unlike some of the timid and hesitant governments of the past, this one will not reverse course at the first sign of pressure

In the past, both the Sunak and Starmer governments refused to state that Israel had violated international law in Gaza. Former Prime Minister Keir Starmer, when asked about Israel withholding power and water from Palestinian civilians, infamously said it “had the right” to do so.

In a rare bout of public criticism, former Foreign Secretary David Lammy last year told the Commons that Israel had violated international law in Gaza, only to be compelled to retract this statement of the obvious by an overbearing Downing Street.

Apparently, Israel was only “at risk” of violating international law. Tell that to all the doctors and aid workers who witnessed war crimes firsthand in Gaza.

Yet Miliband’s recent remarks beg many questions, particularly: what exactly have activists been right about? The movement must also be honest, because of course, there were mistakes.

Many call it a genocide. Many argue for full-blown sanctions on Israel. The UK government still does not refer to the situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories as apartheid, despite many Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights groups reaching this conclusion.

But the tone means that the government has granted permission to debate these issues.

The right direction

Take genocide: Starmer responded testily to the suggestion that Israel was committing genocide, making a mockery of the government’s position that only a court could decide.

In contrast, in a speech earlier this month, Miliband charted a more respectful course: “It is right that this issue has been brought before the [International Court of Justice], and I want to make it clear that we support the court in coming to its determination.”

This commits the UK to respecting any decision the court might make, while also clarifying that this issue is no longer a taboo.

What does this all mean, then, for those who got it wrong - those who were pushing in the opposite direction?

Miliband speaks of a Middle East policy shift - so it's time to pick a side Read More »

The current Conservative leadership has barely mustered a scintilla of criticism of Israel. Leader Kemi Badenoch and shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat opposed the recently introduced settlement trade ban, but most of their arguments have already fallen apart.

The US has not penalised the UK. Britain, far from being isolated, became a leader on the issue, with 11 other states joining it. Israel did not announce the withdrawal of security cooperation. And while antisemitic attacks still disgracefully occur, there was no reported rise alongside the pledged settlement trade ban.

Moreover, for the many who argued the ban was merely symbolic and performative, Israeli authorities have already backtracked on the E1 settlement project, postponing it until after the upcoming Israeli elections. The Euro-Canadian pressure surely had an impact.

Despite the past three years of genocide in Gaza, other pro-Israel groups in the UK have continued to push horrendous positions, either denying Israeli atrocities outright, or acting as echo chambers for official Israeli talking points, while shutting down debate on the many war crimes committed against the Palestinian people.

Miliband, with the full backing of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, is altering the entire landscape of this debate in the UK. The government’s policies and positions are far from perfect, but they are headed in the right direction.

What was made clear in Liverpool was that unlike some of the timid and hesitant governments of the past, this one will not reverse course at the first sign of pressure.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

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