Labour Party members vote for recognizing genocide in Gaza

Britain’s Labour Party members have voted to declare that genocide is taking place in Gaza, adopting a motion that directly clashes with the party leadership and the United Kingdom government’s position.

The motion, passed at the Labour conference in Liverpool, cites the UN Commission of Inquiry, which found that “Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have committed the crime of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”

The September 16 report concluded there were reasonable grounds to find that four of the five acts of genocide under international law have been committed since October 2023.

The adopted resolution, titled Peace in the Middle East 2 and proposed by the Unison trade union, commits a future Labour government to pursue stronger measures in response to the war on Gaza.
Suspension of arms trade with ‘Israel’
The motion pledges to suspend the arms trade with “Israel” to ensure Britain is not complicit in violations of international law.

It also calls for freezing the UK-“Israel” trade and partnership agreement and using “all means reasonably available” to prevent the commission of genocide.

Labour leader and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, along with Cabinet ministers, have refused to declare that genocide is taking place in Gaza, insisting the issue must be decided by the courts. The UK government similarly stated it “has not concluded that Israel is acting with that (genocidal) intent.”

This puts the Labour grassroots motion on a collision course with both party leadership and the broader stance of the United Kingdom government.
Humanitarian toll in Gaza, international response
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has rendered the enclave uninhabitable, leading to starvation and the spread of disease.

In July, the International Court of Justice ruled that “Israel’s” occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and the eastern part of al-Quds.