Labour government’s shift on Gaza not enough, say British Muslims, scholars 

London, United Kingdom – Halimo Hussain, 31, has voted for the Labour Party at every election since she was able to vote. But that stopped with the 2024 July election.

“I felt that it was impossible to support the Labour Party while they were actively funding and supporting genocide … and endorsing collective punishment [of Palestinians in Gaza] was unconscionable,” Hussain, a British Muslim and a diversity and inclusion officer from Tottenham in north London, told Al Jazeera.

She explained that in the run-up to the election, her efforts were focused on independent candidates who were pro-Palestinian.

Nearly four months after the election, Hussain’s views on Labour have not changed despite the party taking a different stance on the war in power than the previous Conservative government.

“I think they’ve semi-acknowledged that war crimes are taking place but yet are attempting to go through legal loopholes to keep funding and supporting Israel in its genocidal assault on Gaza, and that to me is insane,” she said, referring to Britain suspending 30 arms export licences to Israel in early September.

“They will never ever get my vote ever again,” she added.

Hussain is not alone.

Four months ago, the Labour Party under Keir Starmer won the general election in a landslide vote. But despite the win, the party lost support from what has traditionally been a key support base for Labour: British Muslims upset over the party’s stance on the Gaza war.

Shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack last year, Starmer told LBC radio that due to the attack, Israel had the right to defend itself and the “right” to cut water and power in the enclave, in line with “international law”.

But his comments sparked outrage within the party and its members, with some councillors resigning. He later clarified his comments and said he did not suggest that withholding essential resources was appropriate.

In February of this year, the Labour Party called for a humanitarian ceasefire after intense pressure and said in its party manifesto ahead of the election that it pledges to recognise a Palestinian state, which would result in a two-state solution with Israel.

Five pro-Palestine candidates who ran on an independent ticket, including former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, were elected in July, in a mandate that was widely seen as a rebuke to Starmer’s party.

Since then, in the first few months of his leadership, Labour has recalibrated the UK’s positions on the war. In July, the UK resumed funding for the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Earlier in the year, Israel had accused several UNRWA staffers of participating in the October 7 attack on its border communities, after which the United Kingdom had joined multiple Western nations in suspending funding for the UN agency.

Also in July, Britain lifted a formal objection to the International Criminal Court’s right to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, before introducing the suspension of some weapons exports.

Yet, these changes are too little, too late, say British Muslim leaders and advocates for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Joseph Willits, head of parliamentary affairs at the Centre of Arab-British Understanding (Caabu), a nonprofit organisation on British Middle East policy that promotes conflict resolution and human rights, said it was “astounding” that the British government “fails to act” amid the rising death toll and Israeli attacks across Lebanon.

Since October 7, 2023, at least 43,204 Palestinians have been killed and 101,641 others have been injured in Gaza. Israel has, since late September, also started carpet bombing large parts of Lebanon, while sending ground forces into its northern neighbour.

“Israel’s genocidal intentions, and stated promises to ethnically cleanse [Gaza] are as clear as day, and yet still there is a business-as-usual approach to Israel,” Willits told Al Jazeera. “Israel is not a good faith actor nor an ally, and under no circumstance should it be treated as such. The UK must not be an ally or complicit in Israeli atrocities.”

Calls for the Labour government to do more to stop the war are growing. Last week, more than 100 Muslim councillors from the Labour Party wrote to Prime Minister Starmer to call for an “immediate and complete suspension of arms sales to Israel”.

“We must not be complicit in these clear violations of international humanitarian law. It is our moral obligation to act now,” the letter read.

Willits, meanwhile, said that while the current government was “marginally less worse” than the previous administration of the Conservative Party, the Labour Party’s decision to continue to allow exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel risked undercutting its global credibility as a voice for international law. Those jets, he pointed out, were “bombing Gaza and Lebanon”.

“If a UK government sees genocide and extermination taking place in Gaza and fails to act by ending all arms sales to Israel, never can it ever speak of international law and atrocity prevention when it is complicit in such atrocities,” he said.

According to a poll by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and Caabu last May, 73 percent out of the 2,053 people who were surveyed between May 1 and 2 supported an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and 55 percent wanted to end the sale of arms to Israel during the war.

Sanctions as an option

Other experts too believe that Starmer’s government needs to explore more steps to hold Israel accountable under international law.

Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, an international law professor at Bristol University, told Al Jazeera that while the Labour government has taken a position that “reflects both better law and better policy” than the previous government, it has still not recognised its obligations to international law to “actively” end the war.

“Whilst the focus has been on arms exports to Israel, it is important to remember that the UK has other international law obligations that require it to take active steps to bring the current assault on Gaza to an end as soon as possible,” Cawthorne said, referencing the UK’s obligation to international humanitarian law and specifically the Geneva Convention, which outlines the way soldiers and civilians must be treated during armed conflict.

“This is because there is clear evidence of systematic, intentional violations of international humanitarian law.”

One tool, which the UK has used against Iran and Russia, is to sanction “Israeli political and military leadership”, he said.

Earlier in October, Starmer said he was considering sanctioning two far-right Israeli leaders, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, due to their inflammatory comments about Palestinians in Gaza.

Starmer was particularly asked about Smotrich’s comments in August where he said starving Palestinians in Gaza “may be just and moral” to get the Israeli captives held in the enclave back. In the same month, Ben-Gvir called Israelis from illegal settlements who were suspected of killing a 19-year-old Palestinian in the occupied West Bank “heroes”.

Since Starmer made comments about the sanctions, the UK has not taken any action against the two Israeli ministers.