This is what I received today. Assume yours is the same.
Thank you for your email to Keir Starmer MP in relation to Israel and Gaza. At this point in time, Keir is receiving an extremely high volume of correspondence, so he has asked me to respond on his behalf. I’m very sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
I can confirm your strong views, arguments and observations have been duly noted and shared with the relevant policy teams.
Understandably, Keir’s office has been inundated with emails on the conflict in Israel & Gaza. We know this is a challenging time for many, with communities across the UK shaken by the ongoing events in the Middle East. Keir and the entire office would like to share our deepest sympathies for those who have friends and loved ones caught up in the conflict.
While our office is unable to reply to each individual email, Keir is keen to provide you with clarity on Labour’s position.
Families are grieving, across Israel and Gaza, and here in the UK. Keir knows this is a terrifying and distressing time for everyone.
Keir is concerned about the impact on communities here in Britain. We stand against the worrying rise in Islamophobia and against the antisemitic abuse, threats and assaults that we have seen on British streets. Labour has met with both Tell Mama and Community Security Trust (CST) and we urge anyone who has experienced Islamophobic or antisemitic attacks to report them to the police or to these anti-hate crime organisations. You can find links for these organisations at the end of this email.
At every stage during this crisis, Keir’s approach has been driven by the need to respond to the two immediate tragedies. Hamas’s appalling terrorism against Israel on 7 October led to the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, while the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is playing out on an unimaginable scale, with thousands of civilians dead, streets flattened and more than a million people displaced. Every loss of life in this conflict is a tragedy.
We must recognise that Israel was subject to an unimaginable terrorist attack. They have the right to go after the terrorists who carried out the attacks and get their hostages back, but this is not a blank cheque. Our position has always been that Israel must submit to the rules of international law.
It’s clear that the amount of aid and essential utilities getting into Gaza is completely insufficient to meet the humanitarian emergency on the ground. That’s why we have repeatedly said that we have to get food, water, electricity, medicine and fuel into Gaza, with many more aid trucks across the Rafah crossing. And it is why we are calling for pauses in the fighting for clear and specific humanitarian purposes, and which must start immediately.
Labour is also calling for a coordinated Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) fund appeal with matched government funding to provide essential humanitarian emergency aid in Gaza, and to create a longer-term fund for its reconstruction.
While Keir understands calls for a ceasefire, at this stage, he does not believe that is the correct position now. First, a ceasefire always freezes any conflict in the state where it currently lies. At this point, that would leave Hamas with the infrastructure and the capability to carry out the sort of attack we saw on October the 7th. Second, calling for immediate pauses in fighting for clear and specific humanitarian purposes is the only credible approach that has any chance of achieving what we all want to see in Gaza; the urgent alleviation of Palestinian suffering.
Over time, the facts on the ground will inevitably change in relation to both hostages being rescued and Hamas’s capabilities. And we must move to a cessation of fighting as quickly as possible.
The reality is that neither the long-term security of Israel nor long-term justice for Palestine can be delivered by bombs and bullets. In the long term, there can only be a political solution to this crisis which is why we need to restart the hard work of talks for a two-state solution: a viable Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel.
For too long, the international community has put the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into the ‘too difficult’ box and Britain, on this essential issue, has lost its way. It is intolerable that no government has put in sustained effort towards a two-state solution since New Labour. Recent Conservative governments have, at times, been dangerously irresponsible, leaving the two-state solution out of their recent UK-Israel road map and announcing plans to move the UK embassy to Jerusalem.
The task will be hard and Britain’s influence in the region has limits, but Labour recognises Britain’s historical responsibility. We will appoint a new special envoy dedicated to Middle East peace and recharge diplomacy with all parties in the region to gain maximum influence. Labour will work with international partners towards the recognition of a Palestinian state as part of a negotiated, just and lasting peace.
You can watch Keir’s speech at Chatham House on 31 October setting out his position here, and read his recent statements and questions in Parliament on this matter here. You can also watch Keir clarifying remarks recently made on LBC here.
Thank you, once again, for getting in touch. If you feel you need any further support, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Best wishes,
Alistair
Membership Services and Correspondence
The Labour Party
