Labour’s betrayal of Israel

Last Sunday, Jews and their allies held a March Against Anti-Semitism in London. It was heartening to see so many push back against Britain’s grim new normal – in which Jewish families think twice about displaying their Jewish identity, where synagogues have excrement smeared on them and where marches sympathetic to Hamas dominate London weekends.

Depressingly, the Labour government declined to send a representative. And the appointment of Shabana Mahmood as home secretary, during last week’s cabinet reshuffle, will only raise further questions about Labour’s support for British Jews.

An MP for Birmingham Ladywood since 2010, Mahmood has a history in ‘pro-Palestine’ activism. She has taken part in several anti-Israel marches. And back in 2014, she was part of a protest against a Birmingham branch of Sainsbury’s, demanding the supermarket stop selling goods from Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory.

Mahmood’s position is more nuanced than that of some opponents of Israel. She abstained on several key votes on Israel’s war with Hamas, including a Scottish National Party amendment demanding a ‘Ceasefire in Occupied Gaza’ in November 2023. She also refused to sign a letter urging the UK to uphold International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants against Israeli officials in May 2024 (although the Labour government did eventually agree to abide by the ICC ruling). In the aftermath of Hamas’s 7 October atrocities, she ‘unequivocally condemn[ed] the despicable actions of Hamas, who targeted innocent Israeli civilians’.

But given all Labour has done to betray Israel, she hardly inspires much confidence. The government’s foreign policy collapsed under David Lammy’s misjudged time in the Foreign Office. Despite Lammy’s admission – made just before he was moved to the Ministry of Justice last week – that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza, he has depleted every ounce of British influence in Jerusalem. During his tenure, he backed the spurious attempt of the ICC to prosecute Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for ‘war crimes’ and supported partial arms embargos on the Jewish State.

Israel is not just another country. It is a crucial partner, providing the UK with vital arms and counter-terror intelligence. How long before Jerusalem begins to question if Britain under Labour is truly a reliable ally?

The problem goes all the way to the top. In August, Starmer recklessly and prematurely decided to recognise a Palestinian state. And this week, he chose the very day of a terror attack in Jerusalem to welcome the head of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to London. This is the same Palestinian Authority that literally pays stipends to terrorists and their families for killing Jews. Following the Palestinian terror attack in Jerusalem on Monday, the minimum response from Starmer should have been to cancel Abbas’s visit. The Palestinian Authority is not a credible partner for peace.

There’s more. Labour banned Israeli officials from attending the DSEI, the defence industry’s flagship exhibition, which was hosted in London this past week. This reflects political dogma rather than security considerations, and it could cut off one of the very diplomatic channels through which Britain sustains the hard-power advantage it needs.

And on Tuesday, Labour showed once again where its allegiances lie. It condemned an Israeli strike on a meeting in Doha of Hamas higher-ups – the architects of the worst mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust – as a ‘flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty’.

This all highlights Labour’s grotesquely misplaced priorities. How can Britain’s Jewish community feel secure when ministers cannot even attend a rally against anti-Semitism? A government that refuses to support its Jewish citizens at home, while neglecting British influence abroad, cannot be trusted to keep this country safe.

Andrew Fox is a former British Army officer and an associate fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, specialising in defence and the Middle East.