British support for Israel is shattering
David Hearst writes in Middle East Eye on 6 October 2026:
A dam has burst in British politics.
For as long as anyone can remember, this dam has held back public opinion on Palestine. It gave impunity to Israel’s most egregious attacks on Palestinians, by describing these attacks as the right to self defence. It constructed and maintained the international siege of Gaza and the boycott of a government of national unity after Hamas won the only free election Palestine had been allowed to hold in 2006. At its very height, it produced a prime minister in Keir Starmer who armed Israel during its genocide on Gaza and supported the withholding of water and electricity.
This dam was policed with fervour. It ended the political careers of those who dared oppose it and who had no money to defend themselves in court. It took newscasters off the air. It cast anyone who dared disagree as antisemites – at best – and terrorists at worst. But within a few weeks, which is a millisecond in the time line of this conflict, large cracks have appeared and the flood waters are well and truly flowing.
The dam busters are Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary and Zack Polanski, leader of the Green Party, both Jews, although the comparison stops there. Miliband and Polanski have very different outcomes in mind.
One believes in a two-state solution and the other says the only way this conflict can be brought to an end is to have Arabs and Jews living together as equal citizens with equal rights in one state. But in different ways, they are breaking a status quo that has lasted ever since Israel was created.
Breaking the status quo
For the first time, a British foreign secretary told those fighting for justice for the Palestinians that they were right. For the first time, Britain has committed itself to a UN declaration that says the occupation is unlawful. For the first time, it has tied sanctions to an end of Israel’s occupation.
“Now, for a long time, the British government has rightly said settlements are illegal. But we have remained silent on the question of the legality of the occupation as a whole, which in 2024 the International Court of Justice concluded was unlawful,” Miliband said during a speech last month.
“Today, I announce that the official view of the British government is that the occupation is unlawful.
Miliband’s statement appeared to be the clearest UK endorsement to date of the conclusions of the 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which confirmed the illegality of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and said Israeli settlers must leave occupied Palestinian territory and governments must stop helping sustain Israel’s unlawful presence.
Another important development took place over the weekend when the Green Party became the first mainstream British political party to call Zionism a form of racism.
Both moves will have a profound impact on the debate about Israel in Britain.