As the Labour party starts its annual conference, it’s former leader takes it to task for its role in the Gaza genocide, and vows to build a new party that can help bring it to an end.
Jeremy Corbyn is the Independent MP for Islington North and former leader of the Labour Party. He recently launched a new political party – yourparty.uk
Cross-posted from Middle East Eye
This week is the Labour Party conference. I have sent my apologies. I’ll be in South Africa for a Palestine Solidarity Tour, alongside Mustafa Barghouti, the leader and founder of the Palestinian National Initiative.
It was South Africa that launched a case against Israel at the International Court of Justrice (ICJ), accusing Israel of genocide.
I had the honour of attending that case. It was a momentous display of international solidarity from a people who know what it’s like to endure – and dismantle – apartheid.
At the time of the speech of Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, I will be at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg.
Following the news of a ceasefire deal in Gaza last January, the foundation postedon its website that: “There must be an acknowledgement of – and accountability for – what Palestinians have endured since late 2023.”
The Gaza Tribunal
During my transit to South Africa, I continued work on our report, following the Gaza Tribunal we hosted earlier this month.
Our tribunal was a two-day inquiry into Britain’s role in Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
We heard from a range of survivors, witnesses, as well as a range of international law experts, lawyers and whistleblowers.
That included Dr Nick Maynard and Dr Victoria Rose, who gave harrowing testimonies of their experiences working in hospitals in Gaza.
They recalled the haunting screams of children, whose limbs were amputated without anaesthetic.
Perhaps the most damning indictment of British complicity was from Mark Smith, a British Foreign Office official who resigned in protest over continued arms sales to Israel.
He described how he was routinely asked to amend his reports on the legality of arms exports so they “sounded less bad”.
Inquiry – take two
Earlier this year I tried to present a Bill to Parliament for an independent, Chilcot-style public inquiry into Britain’s support for Israeli military operations in Gaza, but it was blocked by the government.
The government’s official response states that “there is no need for an inquiry” and “such an inquiry would be unnecessary as there is no confusion about UK military operations in Gaza”.
Once we have finalised our Tribunal Report, we will be presenting it to the government. We will, once again, be demanding an official, public inquiry into British complicity.
It is worth noting that we held the Tribunal at Church House. It was here that I made an apology on behalf of the Labour Party for its disastrous decision to invade Iraq.
Unfortunately, this was not the last time a Labour prime minister has appointed himself the messiah of the free world.
Today, history is repeating itself. Just like Iraq, the government is doing everything it can to protect itself from scrutiny. Just like Iraq, it will not succeed in its attempts to hide the truth.
A reckoning is coming
Earlier this month, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry confirmed that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. The UN report has significant implications for British ministers and officials.
Time and time again, we have reminded the government of its legal and moral obligations to prevent genocide. Time and time again, our calls have been met with evasion, obfuscation and denial.
To this day, we still do not know what legal advice the government has received on an assessment of genocide, or whether that advice will be made public.
No one can pretend they did not know what was happening. Today, some politicians have finally started to backtrack.
We have noticed their change in rhetoric, but we will never forget their moral cowardice when it mattered the most.
Today, schoolchildren are taught about history’s worst crimes against humanity. In the future, our history books will shame those who enabled one of the greatest crimes of our time.
This government’s legacy will be its complicity in one of the greatest crimes against humanity of the century.
A real political choice
I need not watch the prime minister’s speech to know what he will say: defence, defence, defence.
The government has not been generous to children in poverty or the disabled. But there is one area where the government has been very generous indeed. That area is arms spending: new nuclear weapons, more nuclear-powered submarines, and more F35 planes from the USA.
The government could have pursued a foreign policy that defends human rights and brings about peace.
Instead, as images of starving children circulate around the world, our government has ensured it will be remembered for the human suffering it has refused to alleviate.
It is abundantly clear that people are yearning for something different; for a world that cares for each other and cares for all.
That is why we have launched a new kind of political party. One that harnesses the collective call for peace. One that believes in the equal value of all human life. One that will always stand with the people of Palestine.
Our founding conference will be very different from Labour’s. It will vow to stop, rather than deny, the genocide in Gaza. It will empower members to shape the future of our party and our country. And it will kickstart a mass, democratic movement that will finally offer people hope in a more equal, sustainable and peaceful world.
If you want to be part of this, you just need to become a member of yourparty.uk. This is how you can take Your Party into your hands. This is how you can help build a real alternative. This is how you can bring something rare back into politics: hope.
For too long, people have been denied a real political choice. Not anymore.
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