Green light from Labour’s David Lammy for Israeli escalation

July 15, 2024 –
From Socialist Worker (UK)

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The bombed Unwra school in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp (Picture: @QudsNen on Twitter)

Western-made and funded bombs, warplanes and drones pounded the Gaza Strip this week in a huge escalation in violence. And Israel has a green light from Britain’s new government.

Israeli forces killed at least 17 people last Sunday after it struck a United Nations-operated school sheltering thousands of displaced Palestinians.

More than 80 people were wounded at the Abu Oraiban school in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. It was the fifth attack on a school-turned-shelter in eight days.

And last Saturday Israeli airstrikes killed at least 90 people at Al-Mawasi—a designated humanitarian safe zone—and wounded 300 others.

The attack was one of the deadliest Gaza has seen. Israel claimed its target was Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif.

Disease is running rampant. Gaza’s media office says that 71,388 people now have viral hepatitis due to displacement.

Yet Israel only allowed five UN trucks carrying medical supplies into Gaza last week. Over 34 trucks are being held up in el-Arish, the nearest Egyptian city to the Rafah crossing, with another 40 stationed in north-eastern Egypt.

Israeli troops also withdrew from the Shujaiya neighbourhood in Gaza City last Wednesday following a surprise two-week raid. The area is now uninhabitable with more than 85 percent of buildings destroyed, making more than 120,000 residents homeless

Soldiers destroyed a medical clinic providing services to more than 60,000 Palestinians—and opened fire on residents despite them being in designated “safe” routes. What are Western leaders doing to stop this destruction? As usual, it’s all talk and no action. United States president Joe Biden said “it’s time to end this war” at the Nato summit in Washington last week.

Yet US arms continue to murder Palestinians and “talks” of a ceasefire rumble on while bodies in Gaza pile up.

New Labour foreign secretary David Lammy arrived in Israel this week among the killings claiming he will “push for a ceasefire” in meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He called for “the loss of life” to stop and said that although “we are in a war” it should be “conducted according to international humanitarian law”.

That means for Labour, war is justified as long as not too many people are killed.

And Lammy is happy to equate the actions of Hamas with the violence inflicted by Israel by calling on “both” to comply with talks.

Meanwhile Labour hasn’t stopped weapons sales to Israel and it hasn’t reinstated funding to Unrwa that the Tories cut in January. The apparent outrage from Lammy is a front. He won’t accuse Israeli leader Binyamin Netanyahu of carrying out a genocide or condemn the violence of his apartheid state.

This only gives legitimacy to Israel’s war. The longer Labour refuses to stop Israel, the more blood it has on its hands.

It’s vital to keep up the struggle for Palestine on the streets, campuses and workplaces.

Source: Socialistworker.co.uk