Incensed reaction from Israel apologists shows new British sanctions really matter

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They also demonstrate the hypocrisy of right-wing politicians who continue to mouth support for a “two-state solution” while rejecting any action penalising Israel for its systematic effort to smash it.

Pointing out that this hypocrisy is still shared to a great degree by the Labour government is not inaccurate.

But it is counterproductive if done to dismiss the ban on trade with illegal settlements, recognition of the illegality of the occupation of Palestine and the ban on weapons exports that “materially contribute” to that occupation.

Yes, the government should go further.

As Communist Party of Israel Knesset member Ofer Cassif has stated, “Israel wages war on the Palestinian people wherever they are” — there is genocide (still unrecognised as such by our government) in Gaza, accelerating ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and worsening repression, including house demolitions and pursuit of laws designed to disenfranchise them, directed at Palestinians with Israeli citizenship.

It is inadequate to focus solely on illegal settlements in the West Bank, and the terrible escalation of violence against Palestinians there, when the colonisation process is the openly stated policy of the Israeli government, whose leader is also on record pledging to destroy any prospect of a future Palestinian state.

We need far more comprehensive decoupling from Israel — revoking the free trade agreement signed by the last Conservative government, ensuring a two-way ban on the arms trade and ending all military co-operation.

We should redouble efforts to force ministers to publish the intelligence gathered by RAF surveillance flights over Gaza during the genocide, explain what was shared with Israel and for what purposes, and use all relevant evidence gathered to hold Israeli soldiers accountable for war crimes committed there.

Nonetheless Tuesday’s announcement marks a real shift. As the Palestine Coalition (the umbrella for the solidarity and peace groups which organise the national demonstrations for Palestine, the next of which is due on October 10) says, we should see it as a “floor not a ceiling” — a step forward in holding Israel to account.

The Palestine Coalition speaks with authority because the impact of the mass movement on British politics has been profound.

The sustained mobilisations, regularly drawing hundreds of thousands of participants, have continued despite police obstruction and laws aimed at criminalising peaceful protest. The efforts by Tory and Labour ministers to paint them as extremist have fallen flat given the increasingly solid majority support for a ban on arms exports to a regime committing mass murder in Gaza.

That movement must remain vocal and visible to counter the pressure on Labour to retreat from its new sanctions, and so ministers understand that they will get no relief on the Palestine question until the occupation is ended.

Britain is not powerless here. Already other major trading partners of Israel, including Canada and France, are introducing similar measures. An end to economic support from European countries would damage Israel’s economy. It will also deepen the wedge between Donald Trump’s United States and traditional US allies, helping counteract the drive to a lawless, might-makes-right world led by Trump and in which Benjamin Netanyahu’s forever wars play a significant part.

The hysterical reaction from prominent Israel supporters reveals their readiness to excuse the worst atrocities, and will, if resisted, help shift popular sentiment further towards solidarity with Palestine. In turn that builds pressure to end the ban on Palestine Action and free all those imprisoned for taking action to end a genocide.

It is only a start. But it is a victory for Palestine solidarity and one that could yet deliver tangible gains for Palestinians themselves. All opponents of the occupation should welcome the government’s move — and organise to see that it goes further.

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