UK’s Labour Party loses Muslim election support over stance on Gaza war
While the UK’s Labour is expected to win by a large majority in national elections on July 4, party leader Keir Starmer’s refusal to back an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza has angered the party’s once-loyal Muslim supporters.
About four in five UK Muslims voted Labour in 2019, reinforcing strong bonds between the party and Muslim communities that were forged after the mass migration of workers from Pakistan to Britain in the 1950s and 1960s.
But recent polling suggested about one in five of those voters are set to defect from Labour.
“In some towns across the north of England, the mosques are saying, ‘Don’t vote for either of the main parties’,” Labour candidate John Grogan told the AFP news agency at his office in Keighley town in Yorkshire.
Solicitor Shaid Iqbal, a leading figure in the Keighley’s Muslim community, said people were “very, very angry”.
“They’re angry at both parties. But the fact is, Labour more, because they thought that Labour was a party which would stick up for human rights, speak up against atrocities,” he told AFP.
“They’ve let the public down.”
Manchester police suppress Gaza war protest
British police were filmed violently breaking up a pro-Palestine rally in Manchester yesterday, the latest in a wave of protests in the city during Israel’s war on Gaza.
Antigovernment protesters block major Israeli highways
Groups of Israeli protesters have set bonfires and barricaded major highways and junctions across the country, as anger towards the government boils over its handling of the Gaza war, according to Israeli media.
The protesters, who blocked Route 1 towards Jerusalem and Route 4 near Israel’s central city of Ra’anana, are calling for the government to strike a captive exchange deal and to call new elections, The Times of Israel says.
The demonstrations follow an antigovernment rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night which police dispersed, resulting in skirmishes, and the arrest of 12 people.
‘Only elections can start healing’: Israeli protest leader
Antigovernment activists in Israel are readying for a week of protests to push the government to step down.
The protests, which started today with demonstrations blocking several major highways, call for elections before the October 7 anniversary, according to Eran Schwartz, head of the Free in our Land protest group.
They will continue with a large gathering in front of Israel’s Knesset tomorrow evening, and then a march to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s residence, reports the Times of Israel.
“Only elections can start the healing process,” said protest leader Moshe Radman in comments carried by The Times of Israel. “Netanyahu, what are you afraid of? Only a dictator is afraid of his people.”
Netanyahu is definitely afraid of the truth
Israel’s High Court issues order to suspend probe into October 7 failures: Report
Israel’s High Court has issued an interim order instructing State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman to suspend his investigation into the failings of the October 7 attack that deal with the country’s army and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, according to The Times of Israel newspaper.
The investigation started in December last year.
According to the report, High Court Justice Gila Canfy-Steinitz initially ruled in May that she would not halt the comptroller’s investigation but, having received classified responses from the security agencies, decided today to order Englman to suspend the investigation until a High Court hearing on the issue is held in July.
