As Politics Home reports in an email overnight:
MPs associated with Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) logged on to a online meeting on Thursday evening to discuss the consequences of recognising a Palestinian state.
More than a dozen MPs and peers joined the call, including LFI chair Jon Pearce, justice minister Sarah Sackman, government whip Christian Wakeford, PPS's David Pinto-Duschinsky and Josh Simons, and Luke Akehurst.
Akehurst, Labour MP for North Durham, who worked for pro-Israel advocacy organisation We Believe In Israel before joining Parliament, opened the call, critiquing the government's decision.
He believed it was another example of the party capitulating to the Left and was fundamentally the incorrect decision to make.
I think it is important to know who these people are; they need to be held to account for their actions.
To contextualise this, the following data comes from YouGov:
As they put it:
These figures are roughly in line with those from a poll in June last year, at which point 47% of Britons supported statehood while 12% opposed.
Support is especially high among Green (68%), Labour (64%) and Lib Dem voters (64%). Tory voters are more evenly split, although the 32% who support recognising Palestine as a state outweighs the 21% who are opposed.
Only Reform UK voters tend to oppose recognising a Palestinian state, by 37% to 15%.
While support sits at about the same level across over over-25 age groups (42-44%), among 18-24 year olds it stands at 61%.
In other words, except amongst the far-right, there is support for the people of Gaza right across the UK population, and most especially amongst the young. But some idiots in Labour are so desperate for it to be seen as an anti-left, far-right party that they will stand against Palestine and its people to make clear their own Zionist, far-right politics.
This is not a party in control.
It is not a party that understands what this country wants. It is, instead, a party on its way to extinction.
People do not want a choice of far-right parties in the UK. They want politics that is about people, care and our planet. When will our politicians get that?
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I care deeply about the fate of the Palestinians and, putting aside for the moment the actions of the Israeli government, I also care about the ordinary Israelis.
What I would like to hear from our commentators and politicians is what sort of state Israel would become following the establishment of a proper Palestinian state. All comment seems to be dominated by the paranoia that grips Israel and their apologists. Where is the idealism that accompanied the foundation of Israel or was it always an illusion cloaking the extreme anti-Arab ideology that is so openly apparent in Israeli politics today? Is there any chance that Israel could become a confident, modern, multi-cultural state?
Opinion polls suggest it is very far-right at present.
Owen Jones has looked at this.
“Where is the idealism that accompanied the foundation of Israel or was it always an illusion cloaking the extreme anti-Arab ideology that is so openly apparent in Israeli politics today?”
The extreme Zionist tendency in Israeli politics shot the last shreds of it in ’95 when they shot Rabin; they didn’t make any secret of the fact that they did so because he was getting too close to some sort of deal with Arafat, which they couldn’t tolerate. This is what really “made” (in the Mafia sense) Netanyahu, who had prior to the shooting held aloft an effigy of Rabin and called him an “SS colonel”.
It’s hard to believe, but Netanyahu is now to the left – at least publicly – of those dominating his Cabinet such as the openly fascistic Smotrich and Ben Gvir. Where all this ends, I have no idea. The only glimmers of hope on the horizon perhaps are the almost zero approval figures for Israel amongst the educated young in the West, who will form tomorrow’s Western governments. Of course, youthful idealism is often lost on the left (Blair, Starmer), but I can’t see anything else at the moment as the current rulers of Israel and their AIPAC funders have about as much intention of allowing a Palestinian state as they do of putting up a statue of Hitler in Tel Aviv.
Robin,
Although we have all been raised in a culture that venerates the nation-state, it is not the only possible solution in respect of societal arrangement, as human history clearly shows. The premise that the Western nation-state is the natural “end point” of historical progress is exactly the same principle neoliberalism uses to deny the possibility of alternatives, and it is fundamentally false.
In Syria (Rojava) right now, there is a system of democratic autonomous governance that has been solving the problems of ethnic integration in a very diverse area over the last 14 years. It does not depend on the nation-state paradigm, which is rejected in favour of Abdullah Ocalan’s formulation of Democratic Confederalism. A similar system is also in operation in Chiapas in Mexico where the Zapatistas have arrived at Ocalan’s solution empirically, and these examples show another, better, world is possible if we are prepared to open our minds to the possibilities.
I hope our host doesn’t mind me using his soapbox, my intention here is to answer Robin directly rather than spread propaganda.
You have not convinvced me, and I am no neoliberal.
The call to recognise a Palestinian state is about Palestinians having a safe place to live that is not controlled for them and does not require them to suffer repeated atrocities. It feels like you are doing the equivalent of a home owner telling those who don’t own a home that the concept of home ownership is outdated.
The trajectory of the zionist-wing of LINO seems to be that Israel should absorb Gaza and later the west bank and later…etc. I wonder if the UK population last year voted for that?
There is a problem with this: the constitution of Israel states that it has to be a state in which the majority of people are jews. This would not be the case if, for example, Gaza was absorbed with its current population into Israel. One could say the same wrt the west bank. Set against this the zionists do not want recognition of a Palestinian state because this would go against the expansionist aims of the Israeli state (which regardless of who is in power is zionist in outlook). There is also the problem of all the Israeli/American settlers on the west bank which have (intentionally) made an independent West bank+Gaza palestinian state untenable.
Given the above, the trajectory would thus seem to be ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing by the Israeli state in an effort to ensure that the balance of the population in “greater Israel” is jewish. This is my real-politic interpretation. Perhaps there are others?
I @m struggling to think what they are.
I mean no offence Mike but if you have not already done so, check out Col Jacques Baud’s analysis on the legality of Israel as a State – No State, no constitution…
Even with the above codicil, ‘Israel’ had the choice of expansionism or peace, they didn’t choose peace….
What is shocking – and I mean really shocking – is the perversion here of the concepts of right and wrong in LFI?
The public – that gets a fair old bashing from us here – to their credit- seem to have a better idea of that than these Zionist extremists in LFI.
The British people want to see a fair fight. Gaza is far, far from that. That is what I think they see – a defeated people being wiped out.
Massive amount of don’t knows though, have found a lot of coverage misses that the Starmer strategy is thankfully still putting pressure on Hamas
We have pro-Israel politicians saying recognition of Palestine may breach international law, questioning whether it has a defined territory, a permanent population, an effective government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states.
Was that the case when Israel was recognised by the USA ad then others?
In 1948, the borders were still being established. The Partition gave 50% or so to the Israelis although they were fewer than the Palestinians and their militias were expanding the area of control to about 75% mainly by ethnic cleansing. Most of the Israelis or their families had arrived in the previous half century, mainly after the mandate. It did have an effective central control and had Zionist organisations like the Jewish Agency to speak for it over seas.
Palestine is not in that condition. It is already recognised by three quarters of the world’s states.
My column in The National on Monday discusses this.
Are you referring to the lawyers who quote the Montevideo Convention, never signed up to by the UK anyway?
Sadly, that little reptile Akehurst is my MP, although I declined to vote for him.
I have a photo of him wearing a ‘Zionist Shitlord’ T- shirt. Says all you need to know about him really.
No, we need to know a lot more about Akehurst. Fortunately Declassified has found out more about him.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/luke-akehurst-arch-israel-lobbyist-picked-for-labour-safe-seat/
When he parachuted himself in as our prospective MP there was a group of us leafleting the reasons not to vote for him. At his first lobbying meeting, at Pelton, I think it was, he needed a police escort to get him out of there.
I’ve just been looking at all the letters I’ve had from him over the year, and not one is about Palestine. He only responds by email about that.
My last message to him in response to him saying that he follows Starmer as far as the two state solution is concerned.
“Completely empty words from you. How can you watch children and babies dying of starvation and feeling nothing for them? You have no empathy, unlike some of your other MPs and Lords . https://labouroutlook.org/2025/07/24/over-80-mps-lords-call-for-widespread-sanctions-on-israel/ Your constituents will not forget – and I know some who voted for you last year but will never do so again. Of course, they don’t all know how friendly you are with Netanyahu.”
He hasn’t responded to that!
Akehurst is, without doubt, one of the vilest people in British politics. I have never understood why he’s in the Labour Party.
To ensure it continues to support Zionism?
Parachuted in because his home CLP wouldn’t even propose him for Labour’s National Executive Committee.
Almost certainly a Trevor Chinn nominee (even though Starmer *said* it should be up to the CLP) after the previous incumbent was not allowed to resign until it was too late for a CLP decision.
I feel for you.
The previous incumbent is now Lord Beamish, Kevan Jones.
Both he and Akehurst ask lots of questions about the forces. In fact the only committees they are both on are about the armed forces.
For those who want to know more than the words on his tee shirt.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/luke-akehurst-arch-israel-lobbyist-picked-for-labour-safe-seat/
Typo, Richard? I suspect your closing para. should have ended “People not only do not want a choice of far-right parties in the UK, they want politics that is about people… ” etc.
And I so agree!
Corrected.
Thanks.
This could be another Iraq for Labour, where they alienate people right across the spectrum and age range.
Agreed.
Tragically a Palestinian state was part of George Bush’s foreign policy. The overtone window about what is conservative is too far right. Bush also warned about that too. But Iraq happened and Bush was wrong.
Jon Pearce is the MP for High Peak (where I live) – he is extremely arrogant and certainly does not represent the views of many of his constituents. He has, in the main, voted with the Government with neither care nor consideration for those who live here. He claims to be from ‘here-abouts’ but is in fact from Derby (a distance away) although he now has a ‘home’ in the Hope Valley – his previous home, when he worked as an employment lawyer in London, is still owned by him. He only seems to be contactable via social media but is now, seemingly, blocking some people from that! I cannot give a direct link to this, but there is an article in the Buxton Advertiser referring to him defending blocking people on social media – if you search ‘High Peak MP Jon Pearce has defended blocking people on his social media accounts which has left some constituents unable to comment or communicate with him’ this should bring the article up – the email link is ‘Peak MP Jon Pearce defends blocking people on social media&body=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.buxtonadvertiser.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fhigh-peak-mp-jon-pearce-defends-blocking-people-on-social-media-5248634’ – sorry but I am not very technical. I have previously commented on this site regarding his various trips re Friends of Israel.
Thanks.
How very Trumpian. Only supportive messages are permitted.
Luke Akehurst is the same. I contact him on writetothem.org.uk which they cannot refuse.
My previous MP was Richard Holden, who decided he wanted to move to Billericay rather than fight for North Durham or even Bishop Auckland, which is where he actually rented a house. Holden did exactly the same on Facebook, so we set up a Facebook page called Richard Holden MP blocked me. Ended up with nearly 500 members, including Richard Holden, we think.
These two web sites help explain what’s going on with the Zionist cult which amazingly is simply copying Nazism:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/06/israel-occupation-50-years-of-dispossession/
I have just checked and it seems to be possible to contact Jon Pearce via theyworkforyou
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mps/ Not public like social media of course, but could still be useful?
But you can make their replies public if you want to. I quite often put Akehurst’s replies on Facebook, just to let people know what he really thinks.
Ahhhh – but – @Sue H, you and I do not understand his workload, and yes, I have tried contacting him via the ‘message your MP channel’. According to his MP’s brag-book, he is the hardest working ‘new’ MP of that in-take – and I can only assume that he knows this whilst swopping workload statistics with other ‘new’ MPs whilst possibly at the subsidised bar(s) in the ‘House’. I have only once had a reply from him and that was ‘copy and paste’ from the Libour Manifestations. I have contacted the Parliamentary Standards Authority, listing separately the violations of the seven principles of public life. These principles are: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty, and leadership. They were established to ensure ethical conduct and promote public trust in those who serve in public roles – ha ha. Having listed separately under each principle how Pearce had (selflessly) not stuck to each principle, I was informed by the ‘Authority’ that I could only complain about an MP regarding these standards!! In the Buxton Advertiser article which I previously referred to, Pearce defends his actions wit, amongst other excuses, this statement “I have neither the time nor the interest in debating policy with some Tech Terrorist from Tehran.”
Wow. Gutsy! I like it.
I believe that Western politicians are thinking of events which might unfold in their one term of office. Israel doesn’t. Eretz Israel (Greater Israel) *isn’t* the Golan to the Negev and the Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea.
“The recent picture of an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldier with a Greater Israel badge on the uniform provoked outrage in Arab countries (Middle East Monitor, 2024). The promised land of Israel, as described in the badge photo, includes regions from the Nile to the Euphrates, from Medina to Lebanon, including territories from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, entire Jordan, and Occupied Palestinian territories. Why it sparked outrage, however, is not clear: the map reflects Theodor Herzl’s more than a century old statement: “Discussed with Bodenheimer the demands we will make. Area: from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates…” (Herzl, Ed. Patai, & Transl. Zohn, 1960, p. 711), and with newer instances of this territorial expansion desiderate, expressed by Oded Yinon plan and Saul B. Cohen’s geopolitical concepts, among others, and the aggressive stance against Israel’s neighbors and regional countries. Hence, it is probably not the existence of the plan that sparked outrage, but its appearance in the broader social media space.
“This view on region’s future is neither new nor rare. In a January 2024 recording, Israeli politician Avi Lipkin was stating: “… eventually, our borders will extend from Lebanon to the Great Desert, which is Saudi Arabia, and then from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates. And who is on the other side of the Euphrates? The Kurds! And the Kurds are friends. So we have Mediterranean behind us, the Kurds in front of us, Lebanon, which really needs the umbrella of protection of Israel, and then we’re gonna take, I believe we’re gonna take Mecca, Medina and Mount Sinai, and to purify those places” (muslimi.official, 2024), (Middle East Monitor 1, 2024).”
Quote from here:
https://mepei.com/greater-israel-an-ongoing-expansion-plan-for-the-middle-east-and-north-africa/
[“Middle East Political and Economic Institute (MEPEI) is a Romanian independent think-tank, established in 2009. Our core mission is to foster the dialogue and cooperation between institutions, people, and business environments within the European Union and their peers from the Middle East.”
What I have read of their work looks to be scholarly and well-sourced.]
Lipkin wants the Kurds as allies because the SDF is the only force that has been able to beat Daesh, whose forces are currently in control of Damascus.
The media is keen recognise that colonial ambitions are never satisfied when referring to Russia but are strangely silent on that subject when commenting on the Middle East.
A couple of points.
Re the Yougov Poll & the key point it reveals: 41% ‘Don’t know’ is a surprisingly large number.
IF the mainstream media had been really doing its job since October 2023, the 41% ‘Don’t knows’ would not only know, they would (mostly) care about the massive scale of and the unrelenting injustices metered out to the Palestinians since the Balfour declaration, over the last 100 years. Moreover, all of it is about ethnic cleansing.
Mainstream media could have, but never has, solidly debunked much of the most poisonous narrative of 7th October. We could have understood the scale of death (toll) that 28 airborne armed Apache helicopters firing indiscriminately could have wrought, what the Hannibal directive meant as seen by wreckage of over 100++ charred vehicles. Yet there was so much contending evidence put out on Israeli media in Hebrew, which the BBC monitor. The BBC even this July is still re-asserting rape stories for which there is no evidence and have been repeatedly debunked, see this link if you have doubt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8TcdwUb_z0
Incidentally, the most disgusting fiction of 7th October is instead actually true of the 1948 Zionist perpetrated massacres in places such as Deir Yassin, which Thatcher’s guest Menachem Begin described as ‘absolutely necessary’ (https://www.counterfire.org/article/the-deir-yassin-massacre-and-the-roots-of-israels-genocidal-intent/).
Israel rejected peace and the two-state solution from the get-go by the 1948 assassination of the UN mediator, Count Bernadotte, just after he submitted his plan.
https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2025/04/05/the-demise-of-the-two-state-solution-the-assassination-of-count-folke-bernadotte/
People would have understood better. I reluctantly feel obliged refer to 7th October because it is the formative, simplistic narrative that is repeatedly cited about the ‘start’ of what’s going on in Gaza, which must tempt many to ask: ‘why should I care or be interested?’ – hence, the 41%. I believe if people knew the full story the vast majority would care and so want their politicians to care.
The second, shorter, point:
As with your reference to MPs associated with ‘Labour Friends of Israel’ and this week’s Lords’ letter citing the superseded Montevideo convention, the reaction to pressure for a Palestine solution is serving to draw out and reveal to us who actually does belong to the pro-Israeli establishment whose loyalties are to the Zionist cause rather than to justice and the real interests of this country. Tragically, to weaken this pernicious influence (also far reaching between MI6 & Mossad) will require far more Palestinian suffering until enough people here really do care.
The media and the various establishments here remind me of the biblical times when war and corruption and injustice was very much on the rise, yet the fake and lame prophets preached ‘Peace! Peace! Where there is no peace!’ and swapping bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Sadly, we really are in a tug of war between the many who want genuine political, social and economic reform, and the bought and paid for politicians and MSM backed by shady money who want things as they are or to actually get worse. It is sad and quite frightening but these are the cards being dealt.
I think most of us now want a better, fairer and more equitable society on all fronts. I’ve personally had enough of the fake media, fake politics, fake economics and fake Labour Party. Starmer is either going to destroy the LP or let in Farage’s goons. He won’t care because he’ll retire on a gold plated pension and a sack of cash as they all do.
I’m reminded of Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. “The horror, the horror of it all.” These people would rather drag us into protracted wars, privatised hells and yawning gulfs of economic division whilst a super wealthy elite live well protected from the chaos they create and benefit from instead of just making things fairer. The hypocrisy and amorality of it all is sickening and extremely depressing.