Small but important steps from Starmer over Israel

It was under Ed Miliband – ironically, the party’s only Jewish leader – that Labour first began its drift away from Israel. In 2013 he told a Board of Deputies meeting that he was a Zionist, which led to anger from Labour MPs over his embrace of the Z-word. Within 24 hours his office issued a statement “clarifying” his words; he had they said, “not used the word Zionist to describe himself”. The following year he condemned Operation Protective Edge in Gaza. As one former Labour minister told this paper at the time: “Just look at his record. He likes to pretend he’s driven by some moral compass but the truth is he’s the most cynical leader Labour has ever had. Syria, now Israel. He’ll sell anyone out for a vote.”

The Jewish Leadership Council felt the need to call him out with an unprecedentedly strong statement attacking a mainstream party leader: “It is not credible to suggest that the situation can be resolved simply by calling for a cease fire, when over recent weeks Hamas has brazenly breached six ceasefires, each accepted and observed by Israel, and abused them to perpetrate further attacks. Political leaders in the United Kingdom have an important role to play in bringing about a sustained end to the current violence and a demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. This is a critical issue and we hope that such an important matter will not be used to create domestic political points of difference.”

With hindsight, that JLC statement can be seen as merely a warm up for what followed under Miliband’s successor, Jeremy Corbyn.

I don’t propose to go through Corbyn’s time, save to say that Labour plunged into the sewer with a leader who described Hamas as his friends.

It is entirely valid to point out that Keir Starmer actively and willingly campaigned in 2017 and 2019 to make Corbyn prime minister, and that many Labour MPs still support the former leader and his brand of politics. Labour was toxic, and you do not detoxify yourself by simply declaring yourself to be clean. You have to earn that label. But it is equally important to note when the party demonstrates that it is indeed learning.

In that context, we should note a small but telling decision this week in advance of conference.

The party has removed “end apartheid” as the final two words of the title of a fringe meeting being organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign for next week. It will now be called simply: “Justice for Palestine”. Commenting on the deletion of the apartheid smear, a Labour spokesman said: “Keir Starmer has been clear that this is not the position of the Labour Party.”

Now one deletion does not a rehabilitation make but, my word, it is certainly better than anything we saw from Labour under its previous two leaders. And there is now an element of sanity in the party’s official policy, too. Labour has made clear its 2024 manifesto will not commit it to immediate recognition of a Palestinian state, as the party has been demanding previously in opposition.

These are small steps, but they matter. A Labour Party that recognises reality in the Middle East is a good start.