What the British Parliament – ??and also the Government – ??say about the Gaza conflict is not going to change the situation on the ground at all. It is a game that is played in other capitals (Tel Aviv, Washington, Beirut, Tehran…), with different protagonists, no matter how much the United Kingdom wants to continue acting as a global power and claims to have much greater power than it really has (the last test of a Trident nuclear missile has been a failure). That feeling of helplessness is one of the factors of the chaos into which the debate on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas fell, with scenes more typical of the South Korean or Italian legislature than that of the supposed gentlemen of Westminster.
The Commons periodically holds an “opposition day”, when parties that are not part of the Government can call a debate and put a motion to the vote. The Scottish nationalists of the SNP took the opportunity to talk about Gaza and propose an immediate ceasefire, which also called for “an end to the killing of innocent civilians” and condemned “the collective punishment of Palestinians” by Israel, a definition that could be legally considered a war crime.
The SNP’s position was not totally disinterested and can also be interpreted in political terms: Labor is stealing ground by forced marches in Scotland after the fall of Nicola Sturgeon, it is the favorite to win the general elections in that country, and the nationalists It is in their interest to undermine as much as possible the inexorable advance of their rivals (the Tories have very little role north of the border).
And a call for an immediate ceasefire put Labor in trouble, whose left agrees with the SNP and much of the international community that Netanyahu’s response to the 7-O massacre is being disproportionate and must stop. . However, the official line of its leader Keir Starmer, obsessed with appearing moderate, is much more nuanced and ambiguous.
The situation in Gaza has poisoned British politics. The feeling of guilt for having been a colonial power in Palestine, which administered the territory until 1948 (and its share of responsibility for what happened afterward), is joined by non-negligible doses of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in British society. Xenophobic incidents have increased, slogans in favor of Hamas and against Israel in pro-Palestinian demonstrations greatly irritate the right, and numerous deputies, especially Labor, are harassed and subjected to threats to themselves and their families for not clearly calling for an end to Israeli attacks.
Fifty legislators, in this context, had already rebelled against Starmer in November and voted in favor of an SNP text similar to the current one. To avoid a similar crisis, or even worse (there was even talk of resignations at the party leadership), Labor presented its own motion for debate, which also called for an immediate ceasefire, adding the adjective humanitarian, recognizing the right of Israel to its defense and making it conditional that Hamas ceases to constitute a threat (something unrealistic without its disappearance).
According to parliamentary practice, on “opposition day” only a party outside the Government can table a motion for debate, and the SNP had gone ahead. But Starmer pressured speaker Lindsay Hoyle to also accept Labour’s, in order to calm things down in light of the threats to legislators, who say they fear for their lives.
Hoyle, who is Labor but is supposed to act neutrally, agreed to Starmer’s demand “to make the debate as broad as possible.” But the approval of the Labor motion meant that the SNP’s motion (and another of the Conservatives more favorable to Israel) was not even debated, which caused a very unedifying shouting match and the Scottish nationalists and the Tories left en masse. their seats and boycott the session. The Parliament of gentlemen became that of hooligans.
Yesterday the SNP expressed the loss of confidence in Hoyle, and more than sixty MPs (including thirty conservatives) have demanded his head. He has apologized and acknowledged his mistake, and Labor supports him. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, true to his line, remains silent, until he sees which way the wind blows.
