The dam is breaking and even Tory MPs are coming out against Israel

Israel's supporters are starting to distance themselves...

The dam is finally breaking.

Seven Tory MPs and six Tory lords have written to the prime minister, calling for the immediate recognition of a Palestinian state. If Starmer refuses, he is further right than at least 13 Tories on this issue, including Winston Churchill’s grandson.

Among the MPs who signed the letter are Edward Leigh, Simon Hoare, John Hayes and Desmond Swayne (those last two names being on the right of the party). Among the lords are Hugo Swire, Nicholas Soames and Patricia Morris.

The letter states:

Recognition [of Palestine] should not be treated as a distant bargaining chip but as a necessary step to reinforce international law and diplomacy. Prime minister, we stand ready to offer our public support for this decision.

This is an important point. We can’t say recognition of Israel is unconditional, but recognition of Palestine is conditional on total subjugation. We can’t say the actions of Hamas delegitimise Palestine and not say the actions of the IDF delegitimise Israel, not without admitting to racist double standards.

It’s worth noting that most countries recognise the state of Palestine. The ones who do not are mostly the coloniser states of the West. The UK’s failure to recognise Palestinian statehood helps validate Israel’s actions. It says to the world, these people are just savages who aren’t worthy of statehood. It shows our stated goal of a two-state solution to be fraudulent.

It is to the eternal shame of the Labour Party that Tories are making a stand against Israel because the Labour prime minister won’t. Tory MP Mark Pritchard gave a decent, if imperfect, speech, when he stood up in parliament and admitted he was wrong.

“I’ve been in this house 20 years, I have supported Israel, pretty much at all costs, but today, I want to say that I got it wrong, and I condemn Israel for what it is doing to the Palestinian people in Gaza, and indeed, in the West Bank, and I would like to withdraw my support, right now, for the actions of Israel … I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the life of a Palestinian child is as precious as the life of a Jewish child.”

It’s hard to believe these words came from a Tory MP when people have been kicked out of the Labour Party for less. No wonder there is barely a mention of this speech in the mainstream media. What possible line of attack could they use? They can hardly call a long time supporter of Israel an antisemite, can they? I mean they can try…

Pritchard’s speech certainly wasn’t perfect, he understated the child death toll in Gaza, putting it at 13,000 when even the most conservative estimate puts it at 18,000, and he felt the need to pander to Israel, reiterating its right to exist and calling it an important democratic ally and so on, but the fact he withdrew his support for Israel’s actions is still a big deal.

Now I’m not about to declare these Tories “heroes” because this could be about self-preservation, but I am definitely not gonna lay into them. We need every politician to do what they have done, and if we attack them now, we will only push them back into the arms of Israel. Calling them frauds or hypocrites or saying “too little, too late,” would be the worst thing we could do for Palestinians. We should welcome everyone to the right side of the argument, even if we must hold our nose.

We have one last chance to save Gaza so we need to encourage every politician and everyone with a platform to raise their voice. The very last thing we need to do is bicker among ourselves, but that is what many are doing…

In another interesting turn of events, an anti-genocide politician (it’s amazing I have to highlight when a politician is anti-genocide) is running to lead the Green Party. Cue purity testing and leftist infighting. Doesn't this crap get exhausting?

Zack Polanski has recognised the Green leaders are sleeping at the wheel and is standing on a platform of eco-populism. His policy positions are similar to those of Labour under Corbyn, but people are upset that he joined in the antisemitism smears against Corbyn. In my view, Polanski was guilty of two things here: gullibility and political opportunism. He was attacking the leader of a rival party to pick up votes.

In a recent interview, Michael Walker of Novara Media was gonna let Polanski avoid discussing his past smears of Corbyn, but he chose to address them head on. He actually gave a good answer. He apologised to Corbyn. He explained he has a much better appreciation of how the antisemitism smears work because he, as a Jewish man, has been on the receiving end. He explained he had trusted information from the Jewish community that was incorrect. He also said Corbyn did not handle the antisemitism accusations well - this is something everyone agrees on, right? There was no easy way out for Corbyn, but the correct position would have been to make a stand.

Guess what? Polanski is making a stand against antisemitism smears in a way Corbyn never did. Polanski recognises Corbyn was smeared, acknowledges the Labour Party was not overrun with antisemitism during his leadership, apologises for his role in amplifying the lie, and is one of the few voices in British politics who calls out antisemitism smears for what they are. Most importantly, Polanski is fiercely critical of Israel’s genocide in a way those on the so-called Labour left are not.

It is gonna be hard for the establishment to smear Polanski as an antisemite because he is Jewish, and ironically, because he previously joined in their smears against Corbyn. Anyone with a brain can see he is motivated by opposition to genocide, rather than hatred of his fellow Jews. In a political environment where so few are calling out Israel, Polanski could make a real impact. There are millions of British voters looking for someone with a backbone. Polanski seems to have found his.

Right now, it seems everyone is making valid points about Polanski, but almost everyone is missing the point. I feel like one of those Looney Toons characters standing in the middle of traffic, scared to take another step because whichever way they go, they will get run over. So here is where I get run over by both sides: you’re both wrong! Yeah, yeah, whatever, I hate you lot too!

Obviously, we must place a question mark over Polanski, same as we should with any politician, but we must recognise that from an electoral standpoint, he is the best we’ve got.

Next time I’m in the voting booth, I’m either voting independent or I’m voting Green. I want the Labour Party to get as few votes as possible. I want anyone standing on an anti-genocide, anti-austerity platform to get as many votes as possible. I can quite easily vote for someone without thinking they’re my saviour. I can vote for them knowing they might let me down, and if necessary, I will hold them to account when the time comes.

I don’t think there is a cat in hell’s chance of Polanski becoming prime minister, but there is a real prospect of a four-way split at the next election. The Greens might not only take votes from Labour but Reform, because disillusioned voters will suddenly have another option. A four-way split could force the UK to adopt proportional representation. PR would be better than fascism, right?

The media are already “scrutinising” Polanski and their first attempted hit job is rather hilarious. It reminds me of that weird period when Corbyn became Labour leader and they were throwing everything at him to see what would stick. Just know that if the corporate media is gunning for you, it’s probably because you’re doing something right.

Way back in 2013, Polanski was working as a hypnotherapist and the Sun sent an undercover reporter to ask to be hypnotised so her boobs would grow. Polanski agreed to hypnotise her into believing they had grown to boost her self-esteem, and er, that’s it.

Now that we’ve held Polanski accountable for his cringe moment, can we please hold the other politicians accountable for their support for genocide? You do realise genocide is worse than hypnotherapy, right?

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