Later this month, presumably with as much fanfare as they can muster, the UK government will formally recognise the state of Palestine.
It has been a long time coming, and some would say it is long overdue. It is however extremely welcome, and it would be churlish to say otherwise.
Recognising the state of Palestine however must be part of a wider strategy, one which ends the illegal occupations, reverses the settler expansion, and most importantly, one which seeks justice and accountability for the appalling crimes that have been perpetrated on and since October 7th, including the crime of genocide.
Make no mistake, there is a genocide happening in Gaza. Yet while most of the world have come to accept this undeniable truth, sadly, not everyone has.
Shamefully among those still denying the genocide is the United Kingdom, whose Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary still seem incapable of saying anything more damning than Israel “may be in danger of breaching international law.”
It is an astonishing take, particularly as both Starmer and Lammy were human rights lawyers prior to entering parliament, but it’s one well worth reflecting upon.
With more than 70,000 people dead, with Gaza reduced to an uninhabitable wasteland, with the civilian population caught in the grip of a man-made famine, with thousands of starving people shot by the IDF while accessing food aid, with Gaza’s medical infrastructure obliterated, with hundreds of journalists murdered, with the water and electricity being used as a means of coercion and punishment, and with the repeated forced displacement of millions of civilians, why are Starmer and Lammy still churning out that old Tory mantra that Israel “may be in danger of breaching international law”?
Even the recent “double strike” attack on the Nasser Hospital appears to have done little to persuade them to join those countries which are finally recognising this as a genocide.
Of course, the UK government’s long-held and oft-repeated argument is that it’s not for them to decide what is and isn’t a genocide.
We have always recognised that embarrassing fig-leaf of an excuse for what it was … particularly given the speed at which they called out Putin’s despicable behaviour in relation to the removal of children from Ukraine.
But it was all they had.
Well, it was all they had until Starmer sent his lawyers to the Old Bailey to argue that in Gaza, “no genocide has occurred or is occurring.”
Let that sink in … the UK government’s official position, as argued in the highest court in England, is that “no genocide has occurred or is occurring.”
However fundamentally wrong that claim may be, it does allow the UK to ignore its responsibilities under the Genocide Convention.
But it also makes them complicit in that genocide.
Why would a Labour government, headed up by two human rights lawyers, choose this path?
It’s only when viewed through the prism of the Labour Party’s long-held, support for Israel, coupled to the UK’s slavish acquiescence to the Trump administration, that the action of Starmer and Lammy makes any sense, and can be summed up by the old Scottish saying, “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”
There are of course, other issues at play, notably, a post -Brexit terror of being further isolated, this time by an American president who has given Israel carte-blanche to do as it wants… while demanding complete obedience from those who live in fear of his tariff-wielding wrath.
The UK government knows that only by steadfastly denying the reality of the genocide can it curry favour with a dangerously mercurial US president. Denying the genocide also provides them with the legal get- out clause they need so they can continue to supply the global F-35 programme with UK-made component parts.
And in truth, there is no way that an already weak and isolated UK, could withstand the fury of Washington if they were to be a block on Israel having unfettered access to the F-35s programme.
While one could argue that this is simply “real politick”, what is unarguable is that it is complete moral cowardice on the part of the UK government.
This moral cowardice will, I’m certain, be a career defining moment for both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary. Just as the ghosts of the Iraq war continue to haunt Tony Blair, so too will the genocide in Gaza come to define Keir Starmer and David Lammy.
The consequences of their actions however go far beyond the irreparable damage to their personal reputations.
The UK has been complicit in the Palestinian genocide, not just by supplying Israel with the weapons it needs, but also because it has provided Netanyahu with the political cover and international legitimacy he needed to carry out these atrocities.
In so doing, the UK and others, have totally undermined international law and have lost the trust of those who can see the blatant double standards in its application.
At a time when the world needed to see that equality, justice and accountability were the core, unshakable principles underpinning international law, the actions of the UK and their allies have, I fear, all but guaranteed the failure of the entire system, and in so doing they have made the world a far more dangerous place, and one in which we will all be less secure for many generations hence.
Of course, it won’t be Starmer and Lammy who will pay the price for that. I think they recognise that they’ve been put in a situation which they simply do not have the political skill or the moral courage to get themselves out of.
No, that price will be paid firstly by Palestinian civilians, and then by future generations of UK citizens for whom yet another catastrophic, misguided, Labour Party Middle East adventure will make them less safe for generations to come.
