The byelection result in Rochdale is a huge rebuff to the political establishment. The Workers Party of Britain chose to make campaigning for the end of the Israel genocide of the inhabitants of Gaza a key point of its programme and this has found strong resonance amongst the voters in the constituency who elected George … Continue reading Rochdale a Rebuff to Starmer—Editorial 2
Palestine
Zionism, Corbyn and the Prince
Eamon Dyas The idea that a member of the Royal Family would feel compelled to seek the approval of the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom, Sir Ephraim Mirvis (he was awarded his knighthood only last year), before commenting on a conflict in which Israel is committing war crimes is noteworthy. If such war crimes … Continue reading Zionism, Corbyn and the Prince
Rochdale—Another view
Eamon Dyas Zionism in Gaza and the support it gets from the West is a lifting of the “painted veil" that is civilisation. Whatever happens to the Labour vote after this, Labour GH will have a ready-made excuse to explain it. The same excuse will be used to explain the lack of locally sourced energy … Continue reading Rochdale—Another view
Gaza in Parliament, Wednesday 29th February 2024—For the Record
Original SNP motion: That this House calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel; notes with shock and distress that the death toll has now risen beyond 28,000, the vast majority of whom were women and children; further notes that there are currently 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, 610,000 of whom are children; … Continue reading Gaza in Parliament, Wednesday 29th February 2024—For the Record
“Hague Schmague?” Oy veh!
The outcome of the ICJ case Michael Murray “Ceasefire!” An appendix to an article elsewhere in this issue of Labour Affairs, about the human rights lawyer, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, KC, and her role in the South African legal team, lists the nine “Provisional Measures” sought in South Africa's Application to the ICJ. The first is: "The State of Israel … Continue reading “Hague Schmague?” Oy veh!
Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh: “The Making of a Human Rights Lawyer.”
Michael Murray Introduction: “An bealach seo atá romham” - my destiny Over the desk of Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, In the busy London office of Matrix (Barristers’ ) Chambers, on the Greys’ Inn Road - also of Brussels and Geneva, hangs a framed pamphlet with a photograph on its cover of a smiling twelve year old … Continue reading Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh: “The Making of a Human Rights Lawyer.”
Gaza in Parliament, January 2024
Gaza debated in the House of Lords, 16 January 2024 Baroness Janke To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs what steps he is taking to secure a lasting ceasefire arrangement between Israel and Gaza. A brief debate followed, during which David Cameron the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs said: … Continue reading Gaza in Parliament, January 2024
Israel at The Hague
South Africa and the World’s Conscience The world has been witnessing, powerless or complicit, the destruction of the people of Gaza through bombing, starvation and disease for the past three months. Israel has said it will continue perhaps for another year. South Africa has taken a step to call what is happening by its proper … Continue reading Israel at The Hague
Authoritarian Liberal Democracy—Editorial
On the 11th November 2023 the largest of a series of ongoing popular demonstrations against Israel’s actions against the population of Gaza took place in London. By some estimates between 800,000 and a million people attended, certainly far more than the official estimates of 300,000. By any standards this was a significant expression of popular feeling, … Continue reading Authoritarian Liberal Democracy—Editorial
Gaza, Dawn of a New World
“Events, dear boy !” Mick Murray “A terrible beauty”? Harold Macmillan was the author of such enduring soundbites, as they would now be called, such as “the winds of change” a euphemistic term for the beginnings of the decolonialisation of Africa and“they’ve never had it so good” to describe the social change in Britain as it began to enjoy … Continue reading Gaza, Dawn of a New World
Palestine Links
Israeli child “burned completely” by Israeli tank fire at kibbutz (Ali Abunimah & David Sheen, Electronic Intifada, 25 November 2023) The evidence Israel killed its own citizens on 7 October (Asa Winstanley, Electronic Intifada, 23 November 2023) Video: Gaza is ‘textbook genocide’: Holocaust Scholar Raz Segal (Owen Jones, 21 November 2019) Opinion: Here’s what the mass … Continue reading Palestine Links
Notes on the News
Notes on the News By Gwydion M. Williams Democracy Only Real if Mediaeval? Democracy Frustrated Over Climate Change Class Politics in Climate Change Gaza: Ethnic Cleansing Snippets China Seeking Peace BBC Coopts a Dead Chinaman A New Hope for Germany? A Dope’s Guide to US Politics Gay Games in Hong Kong Wed Gayly, but no … Continue reading Notes on the News
The Ministry of Defence
Questions to the Ministry of Defence House of Commons 20 November 2023 These consecutive questions and answers to the Ministry of Defence cover a variety of topics, as per subheadings below. The questions and the answers show quasi unanimity among Labour and Tories regarding Defence and Foreign Affairs in general; they show also the British appetite … Continue reading The Ministry of Defence
Israel’s Right to Defend Itself
Will Israel’s right to defend itself continue to the last Palestinian? (The image shows the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem) Eamon Dyas “Israel has a right to defend itself” has been the constant refrain of western leaders to justify every Israeli response to expressions of Palestinian resistance since the state was established. In recent years that refrain from western leaders has usually been linked … Continue reading Israel’s Right to Defend Itself
A STATE FOR ALL ITS CITIZENS
A contribution to a debate Peter Brooke In a recent interview on BBC radio, Ehud Barak, the Israeli Prime Minister who is supposed to have offered the best deal Israel ever offered to the Palestinians, spelled out, in rather awkward grammar, what he regards as the ideal two state solution: 'I will never lose eye … Continue reading A STATE FOR ALL ITS CITIZENS
Andy McDonald Suspended
Labour suspends MP over calling for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. A note from Eamon Dyas The phrase Andy McDonald used at a pro-peace rally was: “We will not rest until we have justice. Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea, can live in peaceful liberty." The expression … Continue reading Andy McDonald Suspended
Palestine Links
Palestine Links—November 2023 GAZA: 3,195 children killed in three weeks surpasses annual number of children killed in conflict zones since 2019 (Save the Children, 29 October 2023) I run the UN agency for Palestine refugees. History will judge us all if there is no ceasefire in Gaza (Philippe Lazzarini, Guardian, 26 October 2023) Joe Biden’s … Continue reading Palestine Links
Gaza Motions in Parliament
Early Day Motion on Gaza — House of Commons 17th October 2023 Early day motions are short proposals that give MPs a chance to express an opinion, publicise a cause or support a position. They are rarely actually debated, and are only publicised in writing. Motion text This House utterly condemns the massacre of Israeli civilians and taking … Continue reading Gaza Motions in Parliament
Labour Affairs 