Israel Loses Labour Yet More Support

The Labour leadership, and their cheerleaders in our free and fearless press, remain in denial when their disastrous showing in the Gorton and Denton by-election gets aired. This has extended to supposedly senior Labour figures going on the record to back the claims of Reform UK Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage that it was the Scary Muslims™ voting en masse.

Sinking to the level of the far right will, with the inevitability of night following day, cause yet more former Labour voters to go elsewhere. Now, with a round of local elections coming up in May, has come another Red Team foot in mouth episode so serious, and so revulsion inducing, to remind even more voters that they may be best advised abandoning Labour. For good.

Once again, it is the behaviour of the Israeli Government and its armed forces, together with a hopelessly weak and inadequate response from Keir Starmer and his cabinet faithful, that has come riding to the assistance of the Greens, and maybe even the Lib Dems. Israel has brought back the death penalty. But only for Palestinians. To be handed down by military courts.

That’s the same military courts that have a conviction rate of more than 97% for Palestinians who are brought before them. There would be no appeal against sentencing. Some Knesset members wore little noose emblems to the vote, demonstrating their detachment from basic humanity. Then they broke open the sparkling wine after the vote went in their favour.

Some of the pro-Israel social media brains trust have loudly denounced criticism of an act that goes way beyond what happened in Apartheid South Africa, adding that the new law is “only for terrorists”. This display of stupidity misses the ability of the Israelis to beat confessions out of their detainees, and if those detainees die during interrogation, too bad, eh?

So, death penalty, but only for Palestinians. What should the response of the UK Government have been? What would a Government in touch with its people have done? What would a cabinet still clinging on to a little basic humanity have done? What would Nietzsche have done? Sadly, the Starmer gang does not operate on that lofty intellectual plane.

Instead, we have Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper whimpering “My statement with France, Germany and Italy on our united opposition to Israel’s death penalty law. The death penalty is wrong and we oppose it around the world”. No summoning of the Israeli ambassador. No cutting off of arms sales. No sanctions. No withdrawal of intelligence support for Israel.

That, together with Labour having to field activists, leafletters and canvassers across a rather greater number of campaigns than they did in Gorton and Denton, and, indeed, without all those who have already said goodbye to the party after realising the cabal in charge of it worked to throw the 2019 elections, and lied to get Starmer the Top Job, will lose yet more votes.

What looks even worse to many voters is seeing the Israelis bomb, rocket, shell, incinerate and just execute civilians at will, while none of those in the Labour Friends of Israel group, in public at least, admit that enough is enough and they are quitting their affiliation. After all, the last one to do that was Rupa Huq, who was subsequently smeared with allegations of anti-Semitism.

False allegations, mind, but a reminder to those who accepted donations from steadfast supporters of Israel that it’s not free money. Anyone who thought there would never be a quid pro quo needs to give their head a wobble. The Greens, on the other hand, have unequivocally condemned Israel.

Their leader Zack Polanski put it directly: “This is Apartheid. It's morally disgusting - and comes at the same time as Israel is committing an ongoing genocide. To see the Labour Government defend Israel repeatedly will horrify the British public - it cannot go on like this”. The anti-Semitism smears are, as a result, being deployed against him and his party. But it isn’t working.

Nor will Labour’s local election campaign be working. And nor will the cadre of client journalists turn that around. The establishment keeps on giving Israel a free pass. The voters do not. Labour’s future looks grim. Deservedly so.

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