Labour moves to sanction Israel

But campaigners say more must be done 

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The Foreign Secretary promised to “reset” the government’s policy on Israel, with ministers indicating the government could implement sanctions on goods coming out of illegal colonies in Palestine.

As Tory shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat claimed that Britain’s national security could be at risk if the government moved to block trade with settlements, Friends of al-Aqsa (FOA) urged ministers to go further.

FOA head of public affairs Shamiul Joarder told the Morning Star that Prime Minister Andy Burnham “may have acknowledged that the Labour Party got it wrong on Gaza — but until there is action it is meaningless.

“If Burnham is serious about showing there is a change since Starmer, he needs to impose sanctions on Israel. That means arms and trade must stop.

“That is something our government should have done decades ago, let alone at the start of the genocide or now.”

In a video issued by the Foreign Office last week, Mr Miliband acknowledged that Israel’s blockade of lifesaving medicine into Gaza means that children are dying.

While Mr Tugendhat was attempting to spread panic over national security, Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali condemned the Foreign Secretary for his empty words while allowing Britain to continue its “complicity in genocide.”

He said: “At least 10 military flights have departed RAF bases for Israel in just six weeks since Burnham became prime minister, and it’s reported that the Ministry of Defence declined to explain the purpose of nine of these flights. The government must offer a full explanation and end any use of British bases to support Israel’s genocide.

“Miliband has an opportunity to break with his party’s shameful record in government and act on Britain’s obligations under international law. That means imposing a full two-way arms embargo and wide-ranging sanctions, ending military and intelligence cooperation, and withdrawing from the UK-Israel Trade & Partnership Agreement.”

He said a settlement trade ban is a welcome first step, but is “not a substitute for ending British complicity in genocide. It is unconscionable that the Labour government continues to enable a genocide that at least five of its own ministers have recognised.”

Nur Nabulsi, a spokesperson for Palestinian Youth Movement Britain, said: “The vocal shamelessness of pro-Israel politicians is part of a strategy to make even the base minimum policies seem radical.

“Claims that the limited sanctions proposed are a threat to British national security overlook the destabilising, violent role that Israel plays in the region and the world. The threat of Labour’s proposed measures is not an imagined risk to the British public. The real threat is that these measures do not go far enough to constrain Israeli aggression against our people in Palestine and in the wider region.

“We will continue to demand more meaningful measures, such as full sanctions on Israel and a two-way arms embargo, to end British complicity in the genocide of the our people.”

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