Lammy has a piece in the JC calling for police to intervene to protect 'Jewish communities':
'Labour is calling for a zero-tolerance approach to any intimidation and harassment directed towards Jewish communities here in Britain. Policing must now surge. Security is the meaning of solidarity.
Starmer receives standing ovation at Labour conference as he supports Israel
'I am shocked and appalled by the events in Israel,' Starmer said David Rose
BY David Rose October 10, 2023 15:38
Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer today received two standing ovations after offering unequivocal support for Jews and for Israel in his keynote speech to the party’s annual conference in Liverpool.
The first, from an audience that numbered several thousand, came when he said that Labour was now a “new party” that stood for public service, and had “ripped antisemitism out by its roots”.
The second came just moments later, when he turned to the Hamas terror group’s attack on Israel.
“I am shocked and appalled by the events in Israel,” Starmer said. “I utterly condemn the senseless murder of men, women and children, including British citizens, in cold blood by the terrorists of Hamas.”
He said Labour remained committed to the search for peace, by encouraging a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
But, he went on, “These actions by Hamas do nothing for the Palestinian people, and Israel must always have the right to defend its people.”
After the second ovation, he added that “terrorism is a menace that we must all confront” – a mission that Labour would embrace wholeheartedly if it won the next general election.
Starmer’s comments followed a one-minute silence in the conference main hall yesterday held in memory of the victims of the Hamas attacks.
This was introduced by Starmer’s deputy, Angela Rayner, who was once seen as a loyal supporter of the former party leader Jeremy Corbyn – who was not admitted to the conference and had failed to condemn the attacks.
Rayner told delegates: “I know you will all be appalled by the terrible situation in Israel. I would be grateful now if you could all join us in a moment of silence in sympathy with the victims and the bereaved.”
The audience rose as one and stood in absolute silence for 60 seconds.
*****
It's all so sickening. A green light for Israeli atrocities.
Posted by Ian M on October 10, 2023, 11:47 pm, in reply to "Labour..."
Almost felt sorry for him, but he still managed to answer in a way that sits on the fence and doesn't spit the media's predictable, propagandist framing back in their faces:
I don't know why he bothers to accept these invitations to appear in the media. I fear it's his ego, because, clearly he's not cut out for it. He lacks the intellectual qualities, character robustness, rhetorical ability and 'charisma' for any kind of leadership role. I think it's time for him to retire from politics. Let's be charitable and say he's done his bit and the left needs an injection of new blood, a new start. Corbyn symbolises old-school social democracy and that's dead. How does the left respond to the creation of a virtual one-party political system as the three major parties effectively merge into a new whole on the right of politics.
As he's finished in Labour, why doesn't he understand this? Because he doesn't see it? Or he chooses to ignore it? The UK is, really, a one-party state, with three factions fighting over power. This has profound implications for the left and what's left of opposition or how one defines 'democracy'. Please, Corbyn, just retire.
From the clip it looked like the media actively sought him out to pose the question. Otherwise his only act, as far as I'm aware, was to post this lukewarm tweet:
'The unfolding events in Israel and Palestine are deeply alarming.
We need an immediate ceasefire and urgent de-escalation.
I see that he has now clarified his position to specifically criticise attacks on citizens:
'Today, I'm thinking of all those in Israel and Palestine suffering unimaginable pain, trauma and fear.
The horrific attacks on civilians in Israel were deplorable. This cannot justify the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians, who are paying the price for a crime they did not commit.
Half of Gaza’s population are children. Trapped in an open-air prison without food, water, gas or electricity, they are watching their homes turn to rubble with nowhere to go.
We should condemn the use of violence against all civilians, Israeli and Palestinian. And we must renew our calls for an immediate ceasefire to prevent any further loss of life.
More both-sides-ism. No Jeremy, we shouldn't condemn Palestinians for resorting to violence, even against civilians. The responsibility lies with the occupier and those who insist on unworkable half-measures that have consistently failed to deliver any kind of justice for the occupied.
Another climb-down to appease his critics, thereby further weakening the Palestinian cause. I think he secretly loves the establishment whipping boy role he's been given.
Corbyn is, despite his image, very conceited. He likes and feels comforable with his decades long role on the left.
He was, though I doubt he really understands this, a leftwing mascot for the Labour Party, a living symbol of the past, completely without influence on the back benches: Now, with the lurch to the right, he's not necessary, along with the rest of the left. He's redundant and he's outlived his usefulness.
Posted by Ian M on October 11, 2023, 6:47 pm, in reply to "Labour..."
as posted in above thread:
*****
The obvious conclusion is that they don't view Palestinians as 'civilians' or even fully human in the way Israelis are. Look at all the people up in arms about the 'violence'. You know they're only talking about Hamas violence against Israelis, because Israel's violence against Palestinians is never cause for such gasps of outrage - in fact it's mostly just ignored. I looked at Angela Rayner's speech to the Labour conference again where she asked for the minute's silence, and I think she let the cat out of the bag:
'Conference, I know you will all be appalled by the shocking situation and events in Israel, where over a thousand people, including at least ten British citizens, are feared to have lost their lives. I would be grateful now to remember all the victims and sympathy with their bereaved. If you could join us in a moment's silence.' - https://nitter.net/UKLabour/status/1711462904803799458#m
That was tweeted out on October 9th on the Labour party account with the caption: 'Today, Labour Conference held a moment of silence for all those who have lost their lives as a result of the horrific terrorist attacks on Israel.' Clearly they are only referring to casualties in Israel despite mass airstrikes on Gaza starting on the first day of the conflict, October 7th - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war#Airstrikes_in_the_Gaza_Strip Even if you credit them with an implied reference to Palestinians with the 'all those who have lost their lives' and Rayner's 'all the victims', Israel is cleared of responsibility for this by the follow-up that pins the blame squarely on Hamas and its 'horrific terrorist attacks'. The 'over a thousand' figure does at least seem to include Palestinian losses - possibly she got it from this graun article on Oct 8th: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/08/israel-gaza-hamas-attack-netanyahu-warns-of-long-and-difficult-war - but this was not made explicit, and I doubt she was even thinking of them when using the word 'people'. The only reference to the conflict on her soulless twitter account was an Oct 7th retweet of David Lammy's outrage reflex:
It recalls Derrick Jensen's fourth premise to the book 'Endgame':
'Civilization is based on a clearly defined and widely accepted yet often unarticulated hierarchy. Violence done by those higher on the hierarchy to those lower is nearly always invisible, that is, unnoticed. When it is noticed, it is fully rationalized. Violence done by those lower on the hierarchy to those higher is unthinkable, and when it does occur is regarded with shock, horror, and the fetishization of the victims.' - https://derrickjensen.org/endgame/premises/