Will Burnham liberate Labour’s Palestine policy from Starmer’s dead hand?
Avi Shlaim writes in Middle East Eye on 22 July 2026:
Former British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s poor performance in the domestic political arena has undoubtedly played a part in his downfall only two years after his landslide victory in the 2024 general election. But even his severest critics seem to agree that his performance on the world stage was of a much higher order.
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Most fail, however, to mention one foreign policy area in which Starmer’s performance has been anything but praiseworthy: Israel-Palestine, specifically Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Starmer’s support for Zionism long preceded his rise to power. In a February 2020 interview with the Jewish News during the race to replace then Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was known for his principled advocacy of Palestinian rights, Starmer declared “I support Zionism without qualification”.
Starmer was previously a successful human rights lawyer who championed the rights of Iraqi civilians under British custody and advocated for greater protection for asylum seekers. Yet, his support for Zionism, the official ideology of the State of Israel, has never been dependent on Israeli adherence to international law or respect for Palestinian human rights.
A hypocritical leader
As leader of the Labour Party and later prime minister, Starmer’s unconditional support for Israel and indifference to Palestinian rights persisted.
The Labour Party’s manifesto for the general election stated clearly that the party would “work alongside international partners to recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel”. It also described Palestinian statehood as the “inalienable right of the Palestinian people”. Following Labour’s electoral victory and his rise to the premiership, Starmer stalled on fulfilling this pledge for as long as he possibly could.
The Hamas-led attack, in which 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 others taken hostage, occurred when Starmer was leader of the opposition. This was roundly, and rightly, condemned as a terrorist attack because it was directed, at least in part, against civilians.
Israel’s response, however, involved multiple violations of international humanitarian law: the indiscriminate killing of civilians; the forcible displacement of civilians; the destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure; deliberate damage to the educational and healthcare systems; cultural genocide; and the use of starvation as a weapon of war.