Labour’s Gaza showdown could see more than a dozen resign frontbench jobs
Sir Keir Starmer is braced for resignations from his frontbench as he holds a difficult vote on the Israel-Gaza war.
The Labour leadership has drawn up an amendment, circulated to MPs last night, to allow a vote on the growing crisis in the Middle East.
It does not call for a ceasefire, as dozens of Labour MPs – including members of the frontbench – have demanded.
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However, the amendment is intended to move closer to this position, by calling for “longer” humanitarian pauses in fighting to allow in aid, which shadow minister Lisa Nandy conceded could be days or even weeks.
A senior figure told Sky News the wording suggested “a ceasefire in all but name”, although Labour rejected this.
The amendment also condemns the conduct of the war by both sides; and highlights the need to protect hospitals from attacks, as well as calling for Israel to end its siege of the territory.
It unequivocally condemns the terrorist attacks on 7 October and says Israel has a right to defend its citizens from terrorism.
Those calling for a ceasefire include 19 shadow ministers and aides, who must back the Labour Party’s position.
Labour sources said any who voted for a separate amendment from the Scottish National Party backing a ceasefire would have to resign or face the sack.
They are not all expected to resign, and the shadow cabinet – Sir Keir‘s top team – are all expected to back the amendment.
Meetings were going on late on Tuesday night to talk around some of those wavering.
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WHO official calls for ‘cessation of hostilities’
One shadow minister, Imran Hussain, has already resigned. Others on resignation watch include shadow home office ministers Jess Phillips and Naz Shah.
Some Labour backbenchers have vowed to back other amendments which do call for a ceasefire.
Sir Keir explained his position in a speech two weeks ago, saying he understood the strong feelings many had for a ceasefire, but that it was the wrong decision as it would “embolden Hamas” and allow them to regroup and carry out more horrific attacks like those on 7 October.
But he has faced intense pressure from some of his MPs, who have been horrified by the scenes unfolding in Gaza, where Israel is carrying out a military campaign to destroy Hamas.
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, when he addressed MPs on Tuesday in the House of Commons said, in a shift in tone: “Israel must make changes to the way it is fighting this war, by taking urgent, concrete steps to protect civilians”.
At a difficult meeting of the parliamentary Labour Party on Monday night, Sky News understands a number of MPs spoke out.
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One MP later said: “The leadership have been slow to realise the scale of this. They thought it was the very left of the party, and MPs with a lot of Muslim constituents, but it’s an issue for a lot of our liberal voters too.
“They see pictures of premature babies dying because Gaza’s hospitals can’t run the incubators, and they want us to be taking a different position.”
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The MP said there was an understanding that implementing a ceasefire on the ground could take weeks to broker.
A Labour spokesperson said: “Labour’s amendment reaffirms the position set out in Keir Starmer’s Chatham House speech and reflects our concerns about what we’ve seen on the ground in the last fortnight which includes the lack of hostage release, the insufficient amount of aid and utilities getting in and being distributed, the scale of civilian casualties in Gaza and the amount of violence on the West Bank.”
US President Donald Trump’s crypto businesses are drawing increased scrutiny on Capitol Hill and beginning to influence the progress of US digital asset legislation. As Republican lawmakers in the US House of Representatives unveiled their draft of a digital asset market structure bill on May 5, Democrats prepared for a united response to Donald Trump’s deepening connections with the industry.
Speaking to Cointelegraph on May 5, a Democratic staffer with knowledge of the matter said that House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters planned to lead some members of her party out of a Republican-led hearing discussing digital assets. The May 6 hearing, entitled “American Innovation and the Future of Digital Assets” and led by Committee Chair French Hill, could address draft legislation proposed by Republican lawmakers to establish a crypto market regulatory structure.
In a May 5 statement, Rep. Hill and three top Republicans unveiled the draft bill, which could clarify the treatment of digital assets by the US’s financial regulators: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Hill and others echoed some of Trump’s talking points on crypto — e.g, making the US a “crypto capital of the world” — suggesting deference to the president’s previously announced policies.
The draft bill included a provision requiring the SEC and CFTC to issue joint rules defining digital commodities. According to the text, transactions involving digital commodities “shall be deemed not to be an offer or sale of an investment contract” as long as the purchaser did not have “an ownership interest or other interest in the revenues, profits, or assets.”
According to the Democratic staffer, rules required all members of the House Financial Services Committee to agree to move forward with the digital asset hearing, suggesting that Waters intended to block the Republican-controlled event and conduct a shadow hearing to explore Trump’s and his family’s ties to the crypto industry. At least nine Democrats have reportedly considered a similar move to oppose a proposed stablecoin bill in the Senate.
Calls for impeachment, criticism from both sides
Some members of Congress have already called for Trump’s impeachment after he offered the opportunity for some of his top memecoin holders to tour the White House and attend a private dinner. In addition to the memecoin, the president’s family has backed the firm World Liberty Financial, which recently launched its own stablecoin, and an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm used the USD1 stablecoin to settle a $2 billion investment in Binance.
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Waters, according to the staffer, requested that Hill and Republicans amend any proposed legislation to explicitly prevent potential conflicts of interest in which Trump could personally enrich himself through crypto ventures. Cointelegraph reached out to Hill’s office but did not receive a response at the time of publication. The Arkansas lawmaker reportedly said in March that the Trump family’s involvement in the crypto industry makes related legislation “more complicated.”
Republican lawmakers in the United States currently have control of the House, Senate, and presidency. At least two senators supportive of Trump have criticized his memecoin dinner, hinting that the president was selling access to his office. It’s unclear at the time of publication who among the memecoin holders could attend the May 22 dinner in person.
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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Asset manager VanEck has asked US regulators for permission to list an exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding BNB, the native token of Binance’s BNB Chain, regulatory filings show.
The ETF is designed to accumulate spot BNB (BNB) tokens and “may, from time to time, stake a portion of the [fund’s] assets through one or more trusted staking providers,” according to the ETF’s S-1 prospectus. The filing marks the first time an asset manager has filed for a BNB ETF in the United States.
The BNB token has a market capitalization of roughly $84 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap. As of May 5, BNB stakers earn a yield of approximately 2.5%, according to data from Stakingrewards.com.
Binance’s BNB Chain is among the most popular smart contract networks, with a total value locked (TVL) of nearly $6 billion, according to data from DefiLlama.
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Bitcoin’s “spillover” effect?
The filing comes days after Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao reportedly said he expects the popularity of Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs to eventually “spill over” into altcoins.
“This cycle so far has been the ETFs. And it’s almost all Bitcoin. Ether hasn’t had as much success but Bitcoin success will spill over to the others eventually,” CZ reportedly said during the Token2049 conference in Dubai.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted net inflows of more than $40 billion since launching in January of 2024, according to data from Farside Investors.
VanEck’s filing is the newest in a flurry of filings seeking to list ETFs holding altcoins.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has acknowledged dozens of cryptocurrency ETF proposals since US President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20.
They include plans for ETFs holding native layer-1 tokens such as Solana (SOL) as well as memecoins such as Dogecoin (DOGE).
VanEck has filed to list other cryptocurrency ETFs over the past few months, including funds holding Solana and Avalanche (AVAX).
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Crypto users are weighing in as Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius Network, prepares to stand before a judge on May 8 to face sentencing for commodities fraud and a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of the platform’s token.
In a May 2 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), prosecutors released several impact statements from individuals affected by the collapse of Celsius filed after the initial deadline. Though at least one suggested clemency for the former CEO, many told the court about the financial and personal losses caused by the crypto firm filing for bankruptcy, and hinted that Mashinsky should be held accountable for misrepresenting the company.
“Many of the people who participated in this fraud, benefited from this fraud, and potentially orchestrated this fraud will get away with zero legal consequences,” said Daniel Frishberg of Hillsborough County, Florida, in an April 24 statement. “Please do not allow Mr. Mashinsky to be one of those people (such as with probation/house arrest, as some people supporting him have requested). Please throw the book at him.”
Prosecutors have requested that Mashinsky serve up to 20 years in prison for his role in Celsius’ fraud, while the former CEO’s legal team asked for a year and one day. The judge will consider guidelines and victim statements at sentencing on May 8.
Calls for leniency and harsh prison time
Not everyone who sent in a letter to the prosecutors seemed to be in favor of Mashinsky being sent away for decades, as was former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried. SBF stood before a different federal judge in the same district in March 2024 and was handed a 25-year sentence, which he is currently serving in a California prison.
“While Celsius [sic] collapse caused significant losses, particularly for Bitcoin holders, shareholders, and borrowers, despite his mistakes, Mr. Mashinsky was, at times, the more conservative voice in an industry overflowing with unchecked greed,” said Artur Abreu in a victim impact statement.
“The twenty-year sentence suggested by the US DOJ is fair in my opinion, as Mashinsky caused pain and suffering for many crypto investors across the globe – even resulting in suicide for some of those involved,” said Web3 Deep Dive podcast host and former Cointelegraph reporter Rachel Wolfson, who lost access to Bitcoin worth about $5,000 at the time. “Harsh punishment for bad actors in the crypto industry has become necessary to ensure that the space legitimizes over time.”
Mashinsky’s sentencing will be one of the first in significant crypto cases in the district since Jay Clayton became interim US Attorney for SDNY. A Trump appointee, Clayton was previously the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission and a crypto proponent on many issues.
Critics have suggested that Clayton would take a softer approach to crypto enforcement, given his ties to Wall Street firms and the industry. However, he also released a statement in April regarding a $12-million crypto case, suggesting that he supported accountability for fraudulent actions. His response to Mashinsky’s sentencing and other future cases could be a bellwether for the US Attorney’s approach to crypto.
Related: US prosecutors file over 200 victim statements in Celsius ex-CEO’s case
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