It’s a shift, undoubtedly, but there are still strings attached, critics say.

“Labour has called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza for the first time since the outbreak of the conflict in October,” reports the BBC today. It’s a welcome shift, albeit belated. However, many have been quick to point that there are many caveats attached to the proposal which still falls short of a clear call for an unconditional ceasefire.

Background

The move came after weeks of mounting pressure on the Labour leadership to change its position. November saw the largest Parliamentary rebellion of Keir Starmer’s tenure as Labour Leader, with ten frontbenchers resigning their roles and 56 Labour MPs rebelling against the whip to back the amendment. In the run up to the vote, Momentum supporters flooded Labour MPs with over 5,000 emails calling on them to back the amendment.

Since then, the Palestinian death toll has risen to nearly 30,000, nearly half of them children. Last month the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel’s war on Gaza plausibly constitutes a genocide and ordered the country to cease its killing of Palestinians, an order ignored by Israel, which is now mounting a widely-criticised offensive in Rafah. Israel has engaged in widespread destruction of hospitals, schools and more than 80% of homes in Gaza.

Gaza has become one of the greatest challenges of Starmer’s leadership, with the Labour leader increasingly isolated in his own party. He provoked huge ire when he endorsed Israel’s siege of Gaza, not issuing a retraction for nine days.

For  over four months, Starmer consistently refused to back an immediate ceasefire, despite overwhelming support for one among the public and his own Party. Last week a YouGov poll showed two-thirds of the public backing an immediate ceasefire and end to Israel’s assault, including more than 80% of Labour voters.

Prominent Labour figures, including Sadiq Khan, Andy Burnham and Anas Sarwar, have all backed an immediate ceasefire, alongside Labour’s affiliated trade unions, the TUC and numerous Labour councils. More than 50 Labour councillors have resigned from the Party over Starmer’s Gaza stance, with the Party losing its majority on four councils. Starmer had initially attempted to ban Labour councillors and MPs from attending pro-Palestine demonstrations, before retreating after a major backlash. 

Mish Rahman, Labour NEC member, said: “Like the public, Labour members do not want to see politicians offer dodges and equivocations. We want to see every Labour MP vote for an immediate ceasefire at this crucial juncture. With 30,000 Palestinians killed and more Israeli operations planned, we cannot and will not accept excuses for a failure to stand on the right side of history.”

Around a third ofLabour MPs have publicly backed an immediate ceasefire, with around a dozen of thosechoosing not to vote for the SNP amendment in November. Momentum is encouraging its members to pressure these MPs to “vote with their conscience” and back the SNP amendment. 

This week Momentum began putting pressure on Labour again to back the SNP’s  ceasefire amendment in Parliament tomorrow. It launched a mass email campaign as part of a ‘lobbying blitz’ pressuring Labour’s MPs.

 On Saturday, the Scottish Labour’s Conference unanimously backed an immediate ceasefire, with Anas Sarwar declaring himself “proud” of the vote and calling the SNP’s amendment “perfectly reasonable”. Speaking at the Scottish Labour Conference on Sunday, Keir Starmer endorsed a “permanent ceasefire”  in Gaza. However, the position of Starmer and Lammy was not  then in favour of an immediate ceasefire, involving Israel ceasing its military operations without delay.

Reaction

Labour’s shift in position today reflects a slight movement in US policy, which is now calling on the United Nations to support a temporary Gaza ceasefire. Labour’s position for an “immediate ceasefire” appears to go a little further. The full text of the Party’s amendment was published on Labour List.

The leadership’s shift is welcome. It attests to the relentless and determined campaigning of activists, inside the Party and outside,  who demanded that Starmer break the cosy consensus giving carte blanche to Israel’s genocidal destruction and stand up for human rights and international law.

The move is also welcome given the draconian line the leadership had hitherto taken with MPs who supported a ceasefire. As Tom Clarke tweeted: “As Labour produces an anguished, wordy motion on Gaza, it’s worth recalling that just a fortnight ago the control-freaks running the machine were suggesting that MPs sticking their neck out for a ceasefire would risk expulsion, as if any debate were illegitimate.”

But many were quick to point out that Starmer’s repositioning does not go far enough.

“Little of substance has changed,” argued Freddie Hayward, political correspondent at the New Statesman. “Labour’s amendment does not go as far as the SNP motion which calls for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ without any conditions and also refers to Israel’s ‘collective punishment’ of the Palestinian people. Instead, Labour states that ‘Israel cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence’. Its previous conditions for a ceasefire also remain in place: Hamas’s capacity to harm Israel must be degraded and the hostages must be released.”

 Owen Jones went further, tweeting: “Labour’s amendment looks like a deliberate and cynical attempt to replace the SNP’s clear demand for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ with something far more ambiguous and open to interpretation.”

“How is this different from your previous call for a ‘humanitarian pause’, i.e. cease violence, let aid in, then resume Israel’s genocidal onslaught?” he asked. “Does Labour accept that Israel must no longer be able to achieve its war aim of the ‘total military destruction of Hamas’ – impossible on its own terms?…  Why have you stripped the SNP’s reference to the ‘collective punishment’ of the Palestinian people? Do you honestly believe this hasn’t happened, and on what grounds?”

Labour NEC member Jess Barnard said, “This is welcome but it is a total moral failure that it has taken the loss of  30,000 Palestinians lives to arrive here. The Labour motion fails to condemn Israel’s actions in Gaza and gives no guarantee of Palestinian security or meaningful commitments to a Palestinian state.”

Hackney MP Diane Abbott suspected ulterior motives in the apparent shift: “If Starmer really wanted a ceasefire he would table a simple amendment saying that. Instead he tables one full of weasel words. It gets Labour MPs  under pressure off the hook, but means he can say afterwards his position has not changed.”

Momentum’s analysis chimed with these views: “Scratch the surface of this amendment and it falls well short of what the moment requires: a clear call for an immediate ceasefire.

“By making its call for a ceasefire so conditional and caveated, the Labour leadership is giving cover for Israel’s brutal war to continue. With nearly 30,000 Palestinians killed, around half of them children, and an ICJ ruling of plausible genocide, Labour should be providing the moral leadership the Tories lack, not muddying the waters.

“Simply put, Keir Starmer should get off the fence and unreservedly call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s collective punishment of the Palestinian people. Alongside dozens of international NGOs today , we urge Labour MPs to vote for the SNP amendment for an immediate ceasefire.”

Image: Ceasefire demonstration in London, January 13th. c’o Labour Hub.