The question of Palestinian statehood has been front and centre of the news agenda for much of the past week. Forgive me for not joining in with the celebrations because this was a desperate act by a desperate man, not a principled stand for justice for the Palestinian people. I won’t be celebrating Keir Starmer’s performative nonsense because it is driven by domestic political pressures and has absolutely nothing to do with the Palestinian people’s inherent right to statehood.
Palestinian statehood is being used as an ineffective, diplomatic tool by a weak, ineffective tool of a prime minister. That really is the measure of the man.
Recognising Palestine: a sham from Starmer
Keir Starmer’s conditional recognition of Palestinian statehood — that still reinforces a power imbalance that favours the occupier over the occupied — effectively subordinates an inalienable Palestinian right to Israeli approval.
You can drive your new car Mr/Mrs Random, but on the condition of you gaining your neighbours approval beforehand.
I may be getting on a bit, but I do remember the time in 2019 and 2022 when the Labour Party were fully committed to unilaterally and immediately recognising a Palestinian state.
I might’ve mentioned it once or twice before, but Keir Starmer is a bought-and-paid for asset of the British security state. He will let you down, He will lie to you. He will betray you. A commitment today is a broken promise tomorrow.
The timing of Keir Starmer’s statement, after Britain has watched Israel brutally and unlawfully kill at least 60,000 Palestinian civilians is a case of way too little and way too late.
When it comes to Britain’s opportunity to influence change in the Middle East, the horse bolted a long time ago. Again, Israel condemned and rejected Starmer’s statement, as you would expect from a genocidal pariah state that is hellbent on ethnically cleansing an entire people to create Greater Israel, by any means necessary.
Starmer remains entirely complicit in Israel’s actions by authorising arms sales and military support, such as spy missions for Israel, which undermines his rhetoric on Palestinian rights.
But I will tell you who will buy into this meaningless, performative hogwash…
Throw the increasingly-annoying soft left of Labour a few unpalatable scraps of brisket and they’ll soon appear in media studios across the country to tell you to enjoy the plump fillet steak that’s just been served up by Chef Starmer.
A new left on the horizon
The emergence of a new left-wing party has already served a purpose. Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together? The marrows will be plump in Islington North tonight.
Keir Starmer’s number crunchers are fully aware that a new left-wing party — working closely with other anti-genocide leftist independents, and a Green Party led by a reinvented, but entirely convincing Zack Polanski — could leave the Labour Party scrapping it out for fourth place with the Liberal Democrats, assuming they’re still a thing?
Let us be absolutely crystal clear. Starmer’s apparent shift has nothing whatsoever to do with moral conviction and more about countering the loss of Muslim votes to the left in urban constituencies such as Bristol Central and Sheffield Hallam.
There was nothing in the statement that addresses the urgency of the situation in Gaza, because Keir Starmer doesn’t look at the heartbreaking images of defenceless, starving Palestinian children in the same way that we do.
Keir Starmer’s feeble, conditional approach makes no attempt to rectify the historical injustice of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and instead perpetuates a painfully cautious, lawyerly stance that prioritises alignment with the neofascist in the White House over anything that resembles bold, moral leadership.
I will take Keir Starmer just a little bit more seriously if he ever gets a hefty bash on the head and suddenly agrees to unconditional recognition, a complete end to arms sales, sanctions on Israel, and acknowledgment of the genocide.
That should be the starting point.
A political con merchant
Symbolic gestures will not bring a much-needed end to the death, destruction and famine in the besieged enclave.
Keir Starmer is a political con merchant of the very highest order. He frequently dresses up more-of-the-same as “change”. A changed NHS means a continuation of privatisation. A changed welfare system means a continuation of austerity for those that can least afford it.
And a changed approach to handling Israel, or perhaps mishandling, means absolutely nothing to the men, women, and children of Gaza that will go to sleep tonight, knowing that it could well be for the very last time.
Featured image via Rachael Swindon
This post was originally published on Canary.