Israel-Hamas war: Ceasefire in Gaza risks more violence, Starmer expected to say in speech

Published

11 months ago

October 31, 2023

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A permanent ceasefire in Israel and Palestine could risk more violence in the region, Sir Keir Starmer is expected to say as he defends his position on the conflict.

The Labour leader will make a speech on Tuesday calling on global leaders to work towards restoring peace in the Middle East.

Politics live: Top Johnson aides to give evidence to COVID inquiry

But Sir Keir will defend Labour’s calls for a humanitarian pause, rather than a ceasefire, to allow Palestinians to flee the fighting and for aid to be distributed.

He is expected to say that a permanent ceasefire at this stage could leave Hamas with the capability to carry out further attacks in Israel.

Humanitarian pauses typically last for short periods of time with the aim of providing aid and support rather than achieving long-term political solutions, according to the United Nations.

Ceasefires are intended to be long-term and usually seek to allow parties to engage in talks, including the possibility of reaching a permanent political settlement.

Defending Sir Keir’s position ahead of the speech, shadow minister Chris Bryant told Sky News: “I don’t know what a ceasefire would look like… when Hamas’s declared aim is to get rid of the Israeli state and to kill Jews, purely and simply to kill Jews.

“I don’t know how you can have a negotiation with people who engaged in the horrific attacks on completely innocent civilians, as Hamas did.”

However, several senior Labour figures have diverged from the official party line by backing a full ceasefire, including mayors Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and shadow ministers Yasmin Qureshi, Jess Phillips, and Imran Hussain.

The party is not likely to sack its internal critics from frontbench roles, and will instead “continue engaging” with them, shadow science secretary Peter Kyle said on Sunday.

However Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald was suspended from the parliamentary party on Monday, after what a Labour spokesman said were “deeply offensive” remarks made at a speech during a pro-Palestinian rally.

Mr McDonald said: “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.”

A slogan used by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, has been described as antisemitic by critics, with Home Secretary Suella Braverman claiming that it is “widely understood” to call for the destruction of Israel.

But the senior Labour MP said his reference to it was part of a “heartfelt plea” for peace, while former shadow chancellor John McDonnell called the suspension “nonsensical”.

Sir Keir has previously provoked anger in the Labour party with his position on the conflict, after he appeared to suggest in an LBC interview that Israel had the the right to cut off the supply of power and water to Gaza.

He has since claimed he had only meant to say Israel had a general right to self-defence and he was answering a previous question – though the Labour leadership has acknowledged the comments caused “upset and hurt”.

Israel began a bombing campaign on Gaza after a surprise Hamas attack which saw at least 1,400 people killed and thousands more injured in Israel, and around 200 people taken hostage on 7 October.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has said more than 8,000 people have been killed in the 25-mile strip since then, with Israel also launching a ground offensive and a blockade on water, food, fuel and other essentials.

Politics

Bank of Canada just says no to retail CBDC in reshuffling of priorities

Published

5 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Bank of Canada just says no to retail CBDC in reshuffling of priorities

Regulating and speeding up payments without a CBDC are more important to the Canadian central bank.

Politics

SEC approves options for BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin ETF

Published

5 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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<div>SEC approves options for BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF</div>

The SEC notice seemed to be an industry first after the commission approved the listing and trading of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds on US exchanges in January.

Politics

Farage: It’s possible I could become PM

Published

6 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Nigel Farage has spoken about his aspirations as Reform UK party leader and insists he could become prime minister.

He told Sky’s political correspondent Darren McCaffrey the prospect of taking over at Number 10 at some point “may not be probable, but it’s certainly possible”.

In an interview on the sidelines of the Reform UK annual conference in Birmingham, he also described his intention to change the party and make it more democratic.

“I don’t want it to be a one man party. Look, this is not a presidential system. If it was, I might think differently about it. But no, it’s not. We have to be far more broadly based,” he said.

He also accepted there were issues with how the party was perceived by some during the general election.

“We had a problem,” he admitted. “Those that wished us harm use the racist word. And we had candidates who genuinely were.”

Earlier the party leader and Clacton MP gave his keynote speech at the conference, explaining how they intend to win even more seats at the next general election.

He also called out the prime minister for accepting free gifts and mocked the candidates in the Tory leadership race.

But he turned to more serious points, too – promising that Reform UK will “be vetting candidates rigorously at all levels” in future.

Addressing crowds in Birmingham, Mr Farage said the party has not got “time” or “room” for “a few extremists to wreck the work of a party that now has 80,000 members”.

Farage says Reform UK needs to ‘grow up’

By Darren McCaffrey, political correspondent in Birmingham

Reform and Nigel Farage can hardly believe their success.

Perhaps unsurprising, given they received over four million votes and now have five MPs.

But today this is a party that claims it has bigger ambitions – that it’s fighting for power.

Having taken millions of votes from the Conservatives, the party thinks it can do so with Labour voters too.

Reform finished second in 98 constituencies, 89 of them are Labour seats.

But it is a big ask, not least of all because it is a party still dominated by its controversial leader and primarily by one majority issue – migration.

Nigel Farage says the party needs to grow up and professionalise if it has a chance of further success.

This is undoubtedly true but if Reform is going to carry on celebrating, they know it also has to broaden its policy appeal beyond the overwhelming concern of its members.

“The infant that Reform UK was has been growing up,” he said in his speech and pointed towards the success of the Liberal Democrats at the general election.

He told delegates his party has to “model ourselves on the Liberal Democrats” which secured 72 seats on a smaller popular vote share than Reform UK.

He said: “The Liberal Democrats put literature and leaflets through doors repeatedly in their target areas, and despite the fact they haven’t got any policies at all. In fact, the whole thing’s really rather vacuous, isn’t it? But they manage with a vote much lower than ours to win 72 seats in parliament.”

Reform won more than four million votes in July, and 14% of the vote share – more than the Lib Dems.