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The Gaza independents[1][2] or pro-Gaza independents are an informal group of five independent members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom who were elected at the 2024 general election. The groups members are Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn,
Background
editFrom 2015 to 2020, the leader of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom was Jeremy Corbyn, the member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983.[3] Corbyn, who was on the political left of the Labour Party, was a long-time supporter of Palestine and critic of Israel's treatment of Palestinian civilians in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[4][5] As leader, Corbyn shifted Labour to the left and had it adopt a more radically pro-Palestine stance than was historically the case, with Corbyn criticising the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and pledging to recognise a Palestinian state if the party was elected into power.[5][6] During this period, Corbyn was accused of enabling antisemitism in the Labour Party, accusations which he denied.[7] He later resigned as Labour leader following its defeat in the 2019 general election, with Keir Starmer elected by party members to succeed him in the following year.[8][9] Corbyn was suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party by Starmer in 2020 after he asserted that the scale of antisemitism in the party during his leadership had been overstated by his political opponents.[10]
Although elected to lead the party on a soft left platform in 2020, Starmer would shift Labour back to the political centre as leader.[11] To address continued accusations of antisemitism in the party, he changed its position on Israel and Palestine to a more pro-Israel stance, opposing the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaign and rejecting accusations that Israel was an Apartheid state, a claim made by most leading human rights organisations.[12][6] After the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war in October 2023, Starmer asserted that Israel had the right to defend itself from attacks by Hamas and opposed calls for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, instead supporting "humanitarian pauses" in the area to provide aid to civilians caught in the conflict and help evacuate them from the region; Starmer argued that a ceasefire would enable Hamas to regroup their forces.[13][14] This was seen by some supporters of the labour movement, and those from the Muslim community in particular, as being too supportive of Israel at the expense of Palestinians.[13][14] Opinion polling showed a large decrease in support from the Muslim community for Labour compared to its performance with this community in the 2019 general election, where at least 66% of Britain's Muslim population voted for the party, with most respondents attributing this to Labour's response to the conflict in Gaza.[15][14] The Financial Times suggested that this could threaten Labour's chances of winning the next general election in 2024, after it identified ten constituencies in England and Wales where their MPs' majorities were smaller than their respective Muslim populations, which in each seat accounted for over 10% of the population.[14]
In late 2023 and early 2024, the Labour Party remained internally divided over the Israel and Palestine issue, with the Labour leadership remaining generally supportive of Israel and refusing to endorse a ceasefire while others in the party, including around a quarter of the Parliamentary Labour Party and several senior figures in the party such as London mayor Sadiq Khan, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, called for a ceasefire.[16][17][18] In February 2024, Starmer changed Labour's stance to supporting an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza, the first time the party had done so, ahead of a vote on the issue in the House of Commons which could have resulted in a parliamentary rebellion against his leadership.[19][20] Despite this change in stance, the party also maintained that Israel should continue to engage in combat with Hamas as long as it continued to threaten violence against the country.[20]
2024 general election
editBy this point, polling had
In February 2024, Labour changed its stance and called for a
Labour changed its stance and called for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" for the first time ahead of a vote on the issue in the House of Commons. By this point, polling had
Following his resignation as party leader after its defeat in the 2019 general election and the election of Keir Starmer to suceed him.
adopted a more radically pro-Palestine stance in relation to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict than was historically the case, with the recognition of a Palestinian state becoming party policy.
than was historically the case, with Corbyn calling for the recognition of a Palestinian state and
At the 2024 general election, there were five independent candidates who stood for election on a pro-Gaza platform, including former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in Islington North,
Members
editAs of July 2024, the members of the group have been Iqbal Mohamed
References
edit- ^ Puglisi, Leonardo (6 July 2024). "ANALYSIS: Can the UK elections tell us anything about the upcoming NSW and Victorian local elections?". 6 News. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ Hardman, Isabel (5 July 2024). "Jeremy Corybn and the rise of the Gaza independents". The Spectator. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ Petterson, Joel (4 July 2024). "Jeremy Corbyn Wins Election Against Labour, Party He Once Led". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ "Britain's Jeremy Corbyn blasted after new statement on wreath-laying for Palestinian militants". The Associated Press. 13 August 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2024 – via CBC News.
- ^ a b "UK Labour will recognise Palestinian state 'as soon as possible', vows Jeremy Corbyn". The New Arab. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ a b McLoughlin, Paul (12 October 2023). "How the Gaza-Israel war loomed over UK's Labour Party conference". The New Arab. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ Randerson, James (23 September 2018). "Jeremy Corbyn: It's 'offensive' to call me anti-Semitic". Politico. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ McGee, Luke (5 July 2024). "Labour's landslide victory is a personal triumph for Keir Starmer that once seemed impossible". CNN. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ Bradley, Sorcha (14 June 2023). "Keir Starmer's transformation of the Labour Party". The Week. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ Francis, Sam (28 March 2023). "Jeremy Corbyn banned from standing as candidate for Labour party". BBC News. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ Hayward, Freddie (6 September 2023). "Starmer's transition from soft-left to Labour right is complete". New Statesman. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ Walker, James (13 July 2024). "Keir Starmer on Gaza: A timeline of the new Prime Minister's position". The National. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ a b Mason, Chris (26 October 2023). "How much trouble is Keir Starmer in over Middle East stance?". BBC News. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ a b c d Uddin, Rafe (29 November 2023). "Labour loses Muslim support over stance on Israel-Hamas ceasefire". Financial Times. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
- ^ Omar, Ayan (26 October 2023). "Labour facing a huge drop in Muslim voters at polls, survey suggests". The Evening Standard. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
- ^ Marr, Andrew (1 November 2023). "The Labour revolt over the Gaza war". New Statesman. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
- ^ Webber, Esther; Bloom, Dan (26 October 2023). "Keir Starmer sees fragile Labour Party unity collapse over Israel". Politico. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
- ^ Stacey, Kiran; Walker, Peter (19 February 2024). "Keir Starmer risks biggest rebellion of his leadership over Gaza vote, MPs warn". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
- ^ Dickson, Annabelle; Bloom, Dan (21 February 2024). "For UK Labour, Gaza is the crisis that just won't go away". Politico. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
- ^ a b Stacey, Kiran (20 February 2024). "Labour calls for 'immediate humanitarian ceasefire' in Gaza". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 July 2024.