UK Opposition Leader Starmer Faces Party Divide over Gaza Ceasefire

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer took over from Jeremy Corbyn in 2020 with a promise to rid the opposition party of alleged anti-Semitic elements. But his support fir Israel's new onslaught on Gaza has sparked a rebellion among MPs.

Britain's Parliamentary opposition leader has revived divisions in his party over Israel's occupation of Palestine that he sought to bury.

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer was quick to pledge support to Israel in its latest attempt to destroy the Hamas movement in the besieged Gaza Strip, following the October 7 surprise attack by militants that killed some 300 Israeli troops and police and 1,100 civilians.

In a radio interview on October 11, Starmer — a barrister and former head of the Crown Prosecution Service — said Israel had "the right" to impose a total blockade on Gaza, cutting off electricity and water supplies to its 2.3 million inhabitants.

That prompted a backlash among left-wing and Muslim Labour MPs — reportedly up to a quarter of the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) group — while Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar have all called for a ceasefire.

The Labour leader was forced to backtrack in a speech on Tuesday and say he now supported a "humanitarian pause" in Israel's bombing campaign, but insisted that a full ceasefire was not "the correct position."

"The right to self-defense is fundamental but it is not a blank check," Starmer said, contradicting his earlier comments. "The supply of basic utilities like water, medicines, electricity and yes, fuel to civilians in Gaza cannot be blocked by Israel."

The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry, based in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, announced on Wednesday that 8,720 Palestinians had been killed by Israeli forces and 22,000 had been wounded since October 7. The ministry has said almost three quarters of the dead are women, children and the elderly.

Dozens of Muslim Labour councillors in local authorities across the country have also resigned from the party in protest at Starmer's stance.

Former party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who Starmer expelled from the PLP for criticizing a report into alleged anti-Semitism among ordinary members, called his successor a "disgrace."

"We need to move forward, we need to look for peace, we need to look for a way forward on this," Corbyn said. "Killing has a legacy that goes on for decades and decades, and creates the hate of tomorrow."

A YouGov poll published on October 19 showed three-quarters of British voters, across party lines, thought there should be a ceasefire in Gaza.

Yet despite that, the three main political parties — and most of the mainstream media — support a continuation of Israel's offensive.

The Labour leadership also withdrew the whip from Middlesborough MP Andy McDonald, over one comment in a speech he made to a demonstration in solidarity with Palestine in London on Saturday which attracted hundreds of thousands of protesters.

"We won't rest until we have justice, until all people, Israelis and Palestinians, between the river and the sea can live in peaceful liberty," McDonald declared.

"The comments made by Andy McDonald at the weekend were deeply offensive, particularly at a time of rising antisemitism which has left Jewish people fearful for their safety," a Labour spokesperson said.

But other figures who spoke at the rally, including Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana, have not been disciplined.

Conservative Peterborough MP Paul Bristow was sacked from his post as an aide to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology after he wrote to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to support a ceasefire.

"A permanent ceasefire would save lives and allow for a continued column of humanitarian aid [to] reach the people who need it the most," Bristow wrote, later adding: "Ordinary Palestinians are not Hamas. I struggle to see how Israel is any safer following thousands of deaths of innocent Palestinians. They should not suffer collective punishment for the crimes of Hamas."