Gaza’s Grim Milestone: Starmer’s Ceasefire Call at 30,000 Dead

30,000 Souls Later: Starmer’s Belated Call for Gaza’s Ceasefire

Sir Keir Starmer’s endless equivocation over the horrific slaughter in Gaza exposes both his lack of principle and the moral bankruptcy of New Labour. For month after month, as the bombs rained down and the bodies piled up, this petty politician sat on the fence, unwilling to take a stand. Now the SNP has tabled a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza that will be debated in the House of Commons on Wednesday, which will further highlight Labour’s divisions.

The motion condemns the military assault on Gaza, which has now left over 28,000 dead, most of them women and children. It notes there are currently 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, with 610,000 of them children, and they have nowhere else to go. The motion calls for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages taken by Hamas, and an end to the collective punishment of Palestinians.

The SNP argues the only way to stop the killing of civilians is to demand a ceasefire now. However, Labour leader Keir Starmer still resists backing an immediate ceasefire, despite the mounting death toll. At the Scottish Labour conference on Sunday, he called for a permanent ceasefire but avoided the word “immediate.”

Starmer remains under pressure from the SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, who has written to Labour MPs urging them to back the motion. When the SNP tabled a similar motion in November, 56 Labour MPs defied the party whip to abstain and 10 frontbenchers lost their jobs.

Only now, has he mouthed a few mealy-mouthed words about a “ceasefire that lasts.” But even this came wrapped in equivocation and whataboutery, still unable to simply condemn the murder of innocents or support an immediate end to the bombing.

The problem with Starmer is he thinks it’s okay to flip and flop on promises, pledges and even what he said yesterday. Meanwhile, nearly 30,000 people are buried under the rubble of Gaza and he’s still playing politics…

This ceasefire vote will again expose the deep divisions within Labour on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Starmer: The Vicar of Bray

The UN pleads for humanitarian access to relieve #Gaza's agony. But Labour's leader ignores this cry, fixating on Hamas rockets as the source of conflict. His rhetoric perpetuates a medieval siege mentality that prolongs suffering, rather than uniting moderates for peace. pic.twitter.com/uMBQyDlGTr

— Labour Heartlands (@Labourheartland) October 11, 2023

The problem with Starmer is he thinks it’s okay to flip and flop on promises, pledges and even what he said yesterday. Meanwhile, near 30,000 people are buried under the rubble of Gaza and he’s still playing politics…

Where is the morality Starmer supposedly represents? Where is the basic human decency? The man is like the Vicar of Bray, bending whichever way the wind blows, sticking his finger in the air to judge public opinion. He lacks the courage of his convictions because he has no convictions to speak of. His only conviction is the pursuit of power, and he will sacrifice all principle to achieve it.

Meanwhile, the Centrist rabble that follow him mimic their Dear Leader’s moral cowardice. The likes of Wes Streeting concedes that Israel “may” have gone too far, but only after thousands lie dead beneath the wreckage of their homes. Yet even now they cannot bring themselves to back a simple call for peace. Better more Palestinians perish than the Labour Party show unity on a vital moral issue.

True leadership requires recognising Palestinian humanity and rights. It means acknowledging that choking two million people of energy, food, water and life in an open-air prison constitutes appalling collective punishment. And that bombing trapped civilians by the thousands will only breed more desperation.

How far Labour has fallen from the days when brave voices like Tony Benn stood up to colonialism and oppression. The vain triangulators who lead the party now disgrace that proud legacy. They play political games while children’s bodies are pulled from the rubble.

The SNP’s ceasefire motion exposes just how morally bankrupt and politically incoherent Labour has become. While innocents perish and infrastructures crumble, Labour dithers and delays, terrified of asserting a clear moral position.

The SNP motion is simple humanity: it calls for an immediate ceasefire and end to the collective punishment of the Palestinians. Yet craven Labour careerists oppose it, valuing party unity over human life. Even now, as Gaza becomes an open graveyard, they mouth platitudes rather than make a stand.

With this vote, Labour faces an existential crisis. Its soul is on the line. Will it defend the oppressed or excuse the oppressor? Bow to injustice or speak truth to power? Show moral courage or political cowardice? While the zombie politicians who lead this once-great party clearly lack the backbone for such decisions. They will abstain and equivocate, doing too little too late, while innocents pay in blood for their inaction.

Empty platitudes about “restraint on both sides” will not wash when one side has all the weapons and the other none. Nor should the victims be required to show “restraint” in the face of starvation, dispossession and aerial bombardment. A crusade against injustice demands clear speaking and action, not more windy equivocation.

Labour is intellectually bankrupt too. They have no convincing moral philosophy or political analysis. They simply flap limply in the wind, bending to focus groups and short-term electoral calculus. A party without vision or values is no party at all. It is an empty shell, populated by careerist nobodies.

This is a dead party walking, shuffling toward power, empty and heartless. The only thing keeping it moving in the polls is the stench of 14 years of the Tory Parties rotting corpse in No 10…

Sir Keir Starmer already has much innocent blood on his hands through his refusal to act. If he and his fellow travellers do not find the backbone to speak out now, then they are unfit to lead the party that once stood for social justice and international solidarity.

The ceasefire vote is a litmus test. Every MP who fails it has no place in a party that claims to stand for justice. The LeFT must assert itself and clear out the dross. The martyred people of Gaza cry out for justice. Is there anyone in the Labour Party still willing to answer their call?