LABOUR prime minister Keir Starmer, in the House of Commons on Monday, defended Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’ while lamenting ‘the region cannot endure another year like this’.
Of course, all the suffering has been endured by Palestinians, with over 42,000 killed in the genocidal attacks by the Zionist regime in Gaza in the past 12 months and increasing numbers of Lebanese being massacred in the indiscriminate bombing of Beirut and the border with Israel.
Yesterday Israel ramped up its ground invasion of Lebanon (still insisting it was a ‘limited, localised and targeted’ operational activity) while carrying out a wave of increased bombing of residential areas in Beirut.
All this mass genocide is just ‘self-defence’ by Israel that has so far failed to inflict any real defeat on Palestinian resistance in Gaza, the occupied West Bank or the forces of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
In the House of Commons session on Monday, Starmer reacted angrily when the Labour government’s complicity in Israel’s war crimes and genocide was exposed by ex-Labour MP Zarah Sultana.
Sultana had the Labour whip removed for her vocal support of Palestine and now sits as an independent MP. She said: ‘In the light of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, the violence in the West Bank and invasion of Lebanon, I ask the prime minister if he believes Israel’s right to self-defence justifies a death toll, according to research by US medical professionals who work in Gaza, now has surpassed 118,000, as well as the 2,000 people killed in Lebanon.’
Sultana went on to ask Starmer if he ‘Will do what is morally and legally right and end the government’s complicity in war crimes by banning all arms sales to Israel, including F-35 fighter jets, not just 30 licences. Yes or No?’
A furious Starmer replied ‘No’ he would not implement a ban on weapons used to commit genocide saying it would be ‘the wrong position for this government and I will not take it’ insisting he ‘will never stop selling weapons to Israel’ despite calls at the weekend from French president Emmanuel Macron for a full arms embargo.
Instead of condemning Israel, Starmer turned his attack on Iran insisting it had a ‘malign role’ in the Middle East and even condemned Iran for having the audacity to launch a missile strike on Israel in retaliation for Israeli assassinations and bombings on Iranian soil.
The sheer hypocrisy of Starmer, echoing his US masters, comes as no surprise as they attempt to justify genocide by blaming the victims while denouncing as ‘malign’ all those countries and movements that support the Palestinian struggle and resist imperialist domination of the region.
In his speech, Starmer has thrown down the gauntlet to all those who still believe this Labour government can be forced to change its ‘iron clad’ support for imperialist war and genocide to regain control of the oil-rich region that is strategically vital for a world capitalist system gripped by never-ending economic crisis.
Today, the working class must demand the leadership of the trade unions take up this gauntlet.
Tomorrow the TUC has called a ‘day of workplace action’ in solidarity with Palestine and for an immediate ceasefire. This won’t be achieved through lunchtime meetings or writing to MPs as some unions are calling for.
The only way to end the complicity of the UK is to bring down Starmer and his Labour government.
The working class has demonstrated time and again its unswerving support for Palestine. Now that support must be turned into action against a Labour government that happily arms the Zionist state while simultaneously demanding that workers and pensioners at home suffer in the name of keeping British capitalism from bankruptcy.
The time is ripe for the powerful working class to demand the TUC to make Thursday 10th October the start of an indefinite general strike to bring down the Starmer government and bring in a workers’ government and socialism.
The urgent task today is to build up the WRP and Young Socialists to provide the leadership required to go from a general strike to the working class seizing power, putting an end to capitalism through the victory of the British Socialist Revolution.
Join the WRP and YS today, forward to the British Socialist Revolution.
