Palestine activists call for all Sheffield Labour MPs and councillors to resign
Palestine activists in Sheffield have called for all the city’s MPs and Labour councillors to resign from the party to put pressure on the government to “take effective sanctions against Israel”.
The letter has been signed by Sheffield Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Christian campaign Kairos Sheffield and Sheffield Trades Union Council, representing city trade unions.
It begins by quoting Tom Fletcher, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, speaking to the UN Security Council on May 13. It says Mr Fletcher “raised questions we all should ask of ourselves in the face of Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.
He said: “I ask you to reflect – for a moment – on what action we will tell future generations we each took to stop the 21st century atrocity to which we bear daily witness in Gaza.
“It is a question we will hear, sometimes incredulous, sometimes furious – but always there – for the rest of our lives. We will surely all claim to have been against it?
“Maybe we will say we issued a statement? Or that we trusted that private pressure might work, despite so much evidence to the contrary?”
Rubble
The letter adds: “We witness with horror Israel’s relentless military campaign in Gaza, killing and starving the besieged population and turning most homes, hospitals and schools into rubble.
“In the face of Israeli military and political leaders’ openly avowed aim to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians people of both Gaza and the West Bank, the Labour government has persisted over 19 months in denying that Israel is committing genocide.
“Its belated condemnation of Israel stepping up its bombardment of Gaza on May 19 has led Mr Lammy [Foreign Secretary David Lammy] to announce a few feeble sanctions against a handful of settlers and the suspension of Free Trade negotiations.
It accuses the government of “cynical gesture politics calculated to hoodwink the public that the British government is taking steps to halt Israel’s massacres in Gaza and halt the illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank”.
The letter refers to a report, Exposing UK Arms Exports to Israel by the Progressive International, Palestine Youth Movement (PYM) and Workers for a Free Palestine. It looked at Israeli Tax Authority data to conclude that since Mr Lammy’s suspension last September of 29 arms export licences to Israel, the UK has dispatched 8,630 separate munitions.
It also says there has been “similar official doublespeak” on the supply of components for F-35 fighter planes. It says this has been banned but parts are still reaching Israel indirectly.
Pressure
The letter also refers to the use of an RAF air base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, for military transport flights to transfer weapons to Israel from around Europe, as well as for military intelligence flights over Gaza.
The letter states: “In conclusion, we call on you, as our MP* [*or councillor], to measure up to Tom Fletcher’s call, quoted at the start of this letter, by resigning from the Labour Party in order to put maximum pressure on the British government to take effective sanctions against Israel, the bare minimum of which is an immediate stop to British arms supply and military intelligence support to Israel.
“Or will you be content to claim for the rest of your life that you were always against Israel’s genocide and had hoped that issuing statements and raising questions in Parliament might work?”
Sheffield Labour has been approached for comment but so far has not supplied any statement.