Pro-Palestine activist interrupts UK minister speech at Labour conference

A pro-Palestine activist criticized Israel’s ongoing involvement in the country’s genocidal war in Gaza in a speech delivered by the country’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, during the annual Labour Party conference in Liverpool.

The protester, who later became known as Sam P, raised his hand over a large Palestinian flag and questioned, “Why is Britain still arming Israel?” less than ten minutes into the finance minister’s speech.

He continued, “Labour is complicit in the Palestinians’ widespread starvation.”

Reeves responded to the demonstration by saying, “We recognize your cause and we recognize a Palestinian state.”

Reeves continued, “We are now a party in government, not a party of protest,” and the audience members gave standing ovations.

The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), which had planned the disruption with London for a Free Palestine, called on the ruling Labour Party to impose a “full two-way arms embargo on Israel,” in a statement from the group.

The statement read, “The end of RAF surveillance flights over Gaza that gather intelligence for Israel… The immediate resignation of Labour Party leadership for lying to the public about Britain’s role in facilitating Israel’s genocide,” and [the end of Britain’s diplomatic ties with Israel.

Despite the UK announcing it had cut arms export licenses to Israel that could be used during the war, a report from PYM emerged in May that revealed that the British government had continued to send military exports to Israel.

The “horror in Gaza is only growing as Palestinian people are experiencing the most violent bombardment since the beginning of the genocide,” according to Nihal, an organizer with PYM.

While the Labour Party approves weapons licenses, shares intelligence, and provides diplomatic cover for these crimes, they continued, adding that “tens of thousands of Palestinians have already been starved, bombed, and killed.”

Leila, a London-based organization for a Free Palestine, claimed that they were “watching the end of the Labour Party,” which had historically been a center-right party on a number of issues.

The Labour government continues to deny the genocide and offer diplomatic support for Israel’s crimes, according to Leila.

108 years after the Balfour Declaration in 1917, which supported the establishment of a Jewish community in Palestine, and 77 years after Israel was established in the British Mandate of Palestine, the UK made a landmark decision earlier in September.

Palestinian officials applauded the recognition, but it did little to help those who had been victims of Israeli atrocities in Gaza.

At least 66 people have been killed and 168, 346 have been wounded in Gaza City, the largest urban center in the nation, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health on Monday, after an intense Israeli bombardment that has lasted for almost two years, and now a ground invasion of the city’s largest urban center.

Over the past two years, hundreds of thousands of people in the UK have voiced their concerns about Israel’s war, often weekly, and believe the government has not heard their concerns.

Source: Aljazeera