With Andy Burnham’s government preparing to unveil sanctions against Israel, the pro-Palestinian lobby and the left more broadly has grounds for celebration. This is a victory for their anti-Zionist worldview. The pretext for the sanctions is Israeli settlement-building, something the British government has consistently condemned, but the context is a highly effective (and handsomely funded) campaign since October 7 to demonise Israel so thoroughly in the minds of Western populations that many formerly sympathetic to the Jewish state would turned sceptical, if not hostile, as some have in recent times.
While the government’s Palestine pivot is largely motivated by domestic concerns, the campaign to bring it about was orchestrated overseas with the aim of driving a wedge between Israel and the West
Some of that is an organic process. Israel’s errors military and diplomatic have alienated long-term friends, as has the presence around the cabinet table of Itamar Ben Gvir, a loudmouthed simpleton, and Bezalel Smotrich, a dangerous fanatic. But much of it is the result of a propaganda war funded by Qatar and Iran, Islamic states suspiciously eager to separate Western nations from a country known for its advanced defence technology, unparalleled intelligence, and expertise in identifying and breaking up Islamist terror cells. The frustration you feel towards Israel might well be sincere, but ask yourself why Islamic regimes are so keen for you to feel that way.
The answer matters because, while the government’s Palestine pivot is largely motivated by domestic concerns, the campaign to bring it about was orchestrated overseas with the aim of driving a wedge between Israel and the West. This campaign understood British society and politics very well. Amplify genuine civilian suffering in Gaza, mix in a whole lot of falsehoods, distortions and propaganda, and Britons across the board would soon shed whatever sympathy they felt for Israel after October 7. For the bulk of British voters, however, this was as far as they could be taken; Palestine is simply not a big issue for them. But there was a demographic with insatiable appetites for a diet of Jewish perfidy in Muslim lands, as the results of the 2024 election showed.
Labour looks at its heartlands across urban England, in London, Birmingham, Leeds, and elsewhere, and is alarmed by what it sees. Seats like Yardley (Jess Phillips), Ilford North (Wes Streeting), and Bradford West (Naz Shah) which came breathtakingly close to voting for Gaza-focused candidates in 2024. Seats like Birmingham Ladywood (Shabana Mahmood), Slough (Tan Dhesi), and Rochdale (Paul Waugh), where independents or the Workers Party of Britain (WPB) came with ten per cent of toppling a Labour MP. Seats like Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North (Liam Byrne), Bethnal Green and Stepney (Rushanara Ali), and Dudley (Sonia Kumar), where modest increases in support for the Greens, the WPB (Workers Party of Britain) and Palestinianist independents could be enough to cost Labour candidates victory next time.
Labour’s response to this is sectarianism. It reckons that Muslim voters see the party as a Zionist puppet and would be reassured by the sight of Labour distancing itself from the Jewish boogeyman. It appreciates that taking up a pitchfork against Israel could well exacerbate hostility and violence towards visibly Jewish Britons, their businesses and their places of worship, but it figures it can always bung in an extra few quid to the fund that gives Jewish children self-defence training for their walk to and from school, because Jewish children in Britain need to be trained in self-defence just to go to school.
All this is terrible, of course. Terrible for Britain’s relations with Israel and its trade with a nation that produces cutting-edge technology and life-extending medicines. Terrible for Britain’s Jews who will have to watch over their shoulders even more than usual when they go to pray, pick up their children from school, or walk around in Jewish-populated areas. Terrible for any and all Britons who preferred it when the focus of British politics was Britain and elections won based on factors other than ethno-religious kinship.
I wonder if there is another terrible to come. I look at the success of this foreign propaganda campaign in changing UK policy on the Middle East and ask myself why other nations wouldn’t try the same. The Conservatives’ reckless experiment in open borders will cause Britain’s demographics to change on a scale and at a pace never before seen in this country. With that will come concentrations of foreign nationals and their descendants, at least some of whom are going to retain convictions and prejudices from the old country.
Any of the source nations which supply the UK with large numbers of migrants and wish to change government policy or extract a concession might take inspiration from the campaign to cleave Britain from Israel. Slick propaganda, deft media management, well-organised marches, and threat of a little local difficulty in some marginal ministerial seats and you’re well on your way to bringing His Majesty’s Government to heel. Admittedly, few issues have the crossover appeal of Israel-Palestine, bringing together mainstream left, radical right, and all those who have taken a sudden and keen interest at the mention of anything Jewish, but a country that wants it enough will find a way to frame their grievance favourably for the general public.
Labour’s turn against Israel is a victory for the Palestinian lobby but anyone who cares for Britain’s future should greet this development with apprehension, if not alarm.
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