Martin Abrams, a Labour councillor in Lambeth, has had the Labour whip indefinitely suspended by the Council Labour group after voting for an immediate ceasefire motion on 24th January.

Abrams is an outspoken Jewish pro-Palestinian activist. The move comes amid huge anger in the Labour Party at Keir Starmer’s stance on Gaza.

Abrams is one of four councillors to be  suspended. One was suspended for abstaining on a Green ceasefire motion last month and received a two-month suspension. Two others were suspended for three months. Martin Abrams, who is also a Momentum spokesperson and a member of its National Coordinating Group, was branded as the “ringleader” of the mini-rebellion. At the time of the vote on the ceasefire, it’s been reported that 20 of the 58 Labour councillors were absent from the chamber.

The Lambeth suspensions come a week after Hackney’s Labour group suspended four of its councillors. All were Gaza ‘rebels’, but the sanction of suspension might also have been related to their defiance of the whip over a separate Green motion regarding the investigation into the Tom Dewey scandal.

Scores of councillors have quit Labour over its Gaza stance. The Party has lost its majority on four councils. Dozens of Labour groups and councils have passed ceasefire resolutions, making the action taken against individuals in Hackney and Lambeth all the more egregious.

A Momentum spokesperson said: “This is an outrageous attack on a Jewish Labour councillor for having the temerity to stand up for the people of Gaza. Martin is a principled socialist and internationalist – and it is shocking that he has been forced out for standing up for a position endorsed by the majority of voters. This anti-democratic decision should be immediately reversed.”

Martin Abrams issued the following statement after his suspension:

“On Monday night I was suspended indefinitely from Lambeth Labour Group for breaking the whip after I voted for a motion that called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza at January’s Lambeth Full Council Meeting. 

“As someone with a small platform and as a Councillor with a very diverse ward with sizeable Muslim and Jewish communities, I have been consistent in condemning the horrific attacks by Hamas on 7th October but I have also been clear that one crime does not justify another and I believe in Gaza we are witnessing one of the greatest crimes of our age. As someone from a Jewish background I have found the past four months to be emotionally challenging, both personally and professionally, amid the constant stream of horrific images coming out of Gaza. As a parent myself, the images of children killed or maimed in the Israeli bombardment have had a terrible impact on my mental health. My suffering, however, is incomparable to the pain, loss and suffering that people are facing in Gaza as I write this statement.

“Over  the last four months I have had countless conversations with local residents in Streatham about the war in Gaza, I have responded to dozens of emails, I’ve been to Friday Prayers at the local Mosque and Erev Shabbat at the local Synagogue in my ward. I’ve been to vigils with the Jewish community calling for the release of Israeli hostages and I have been on the Palestine solidarity marches. First and foremost I have listened and the vast majority of people I have spoken to want an immediate end to the violence and that is reflective of the country and Labour Party membership with the latest polls showing 66% of voters wanting an immediate ceasefire and 89% of Labour Party voters.

“My vote for the Ceasefire Motion was a matter of conscience for me. My Great Grandparents were persecuted and driven from Eastern Europe over 100 years ago in the pogroms of Kiev and came to this country as refugees with nothing, leaving and losing many close family in the process. It is exactly this history of persecution of my close ancestors in Europe over the ages that meant I was brought up to always stand with the oppressed and against oppression and when I say never again I mean never again for everybody. I will continue to serve as Councillor for Streatham St. Leonard’s ward and continue to work tirelessly for every single member and resident of our vibrant and diverse community of Streatham.”

Lambeth Council refused a petition and two deputations calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Martin Abrams was able to raise the issue in a point of order – the only ‘discussion’ of Palestine that has been permitted by the Council.

There was widespread condemnation of Abrams’ suspension. Labour NEC member Jess Barnard tweeted about the “disgraceful treatment” of Abrams – “a huge overreach by Lambeth Labour group who do not speak for the community. As a Lambeth resident and Labour member I wholeheartedly support councillors in using their position to oppose genocide and to stand with Palestine.”

Fellow NEC member Mish Rahman agreed, tweeting: “There is nothing, absolutely nothing more important than calling out the genocide and collective punishment Israel are committing against the Palestinian people and everyone should continue to call it out, regardless of consequence.”

Momentum Co-Chair Hilary Schan, herself a Labour councillor in Worthing which voted unanimously for a ceasefire in Gaza, tweeted: “This factional game playing on the most defining issue of the day has to stop.”

Andrew Fisher, Labour’s former Executive Director of Policy and Research under Jermey Corbyn, asked: “If UK Labour genuinely now backs an immediate ceasefire, why on earth is it suspending Labour councillors who voted for an immediate ceasefire in a council meeting?”

Na’amod, the campaigning group of British Jews that seeks to end the British Jewish community’s support for the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, tweeted: “ Martin Abrams took a principled stand against the horrific ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza. To expel a Jewish, democratically elected representative for doing so is outrageous. We’re proud to stand alongside you, and countless other Jews, in your call for an immediate ceasefire.”

Image: Ceasefire protest in London, February 3rd. c/o Labour Hub.