The Gaza war puts the British Labor Party before a decisive test

The loss of confidence in the Labor Party is not limited to the Muslim minority and Arab communities (Al Jazeera)

London -

The war on Gaza is once again putting the British Labor Party to the test and threatens to deepen the differences in its ranks, as British representatives in the House of Commons prepare next week to vote for the second time on a resolution for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza proposed by the Scottish National Party.

This comes at a time when the party still lacks a unified vision regarding the position on the Israeli war, amid fears that this will lead to the bleeding of its electoral reservoir among the Arab and Muslim communities.

Sharp division

The lack of clarity in the vision regarding how the party will manage the upcoming vote exacerbates the division that has been affecting it since the beginning of the war, after its leadership failed to adopt a position convincing a wide segment of its electoral base, and more than 56 deputies challenged the decision of party leader Keir Starmer not to vote in favor of a similar resolution calling for An immediate ceasefire was reached in Gaza last November, in what was described as a “rebellion” movement, after which 10 prominent representatives resigned from its ranks.

The return of controversy over support for a decision to request an immediate ceasefire in Gaza is a new test of the cohesion of the party, which is preparing to run in decisive parliamentary elections within months, and the extent to which its cadres are aligned behind its leader, Keir Starmer, whose positions have swung from explicit support for the Israeli military operation against the Gaza Strip to a hesitant demand for a truce. Humanity.

This is before Starmer, in his tweet last week, supported what he described as a “sustainable ceasefire” without adopting an explicit call for an immediate ceasefire, which many see as unjustified reluctance in light of the unprecedented humanitarian crisis that the Gaza Strip is experiencing and the Israeli occupation’s threat to launch a ground attack. On Rafah.

Scottish National Party leader Stephen Flynn called on both Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak and Labor Party leader Keir Starmer to support the ceasefire, stressing that what he described as “the time of evasion” has ended, and that Britain has a moral responsibility that it must assume to stop the killing of civilians. Insulation in the sector.

However, while it is likely that the party will not tend this time towards punishing those who might rebel against its leadership by voting in favor of the resolution as the previous time, without ruling out the possibility of the party voting in favor of an immediate ceasefire resolution, some believe that the repercussions of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip will affect its chances in the electoral race. Who is looking forward to being at the top of its results and leading the next British government.

Loss of confidence

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, the head of the Center for Arab-British Understanding, Chris Doyle, said that the Labor Party’s wavering positions regarding the Israeli war against the Gaza Strip may have worrying repercussions on its electoral chances.

He stressed that the anger over the party’s handling of what is happening in Gaza is not limited to the Muslim minority or the Arab communities, which are one of the party’s traditional bases, but also extends to other broad groups that want to see an end to the war in Gaza, and believe that the positions of its leadership are not consistent with a prevailing trend in His popular circles are concerned about the identification of some of his positions with the right-wing movement.

Doyle stresses that the war in Gaza created a real crisis within the party, which he is trying to remedy by drawing a clear picture of the extent of the impact of the war in Gaza on the behavior of his voters and building on it to modify his rhetoric, but without his positions so far differing radically from his political opponent, the Conservative Party, which continues to support The Israeli military operation against the Gaza Strip.

The British Labor Party faces major challenges due to its position on the war on Gaza (Reuters)

Difficult reading

It seems that extrapolating what the results of the upcoming elections will be and the factors that could influence the decision of British voters - especially with the country's economy entering a state of contraction and the state of political polarization continuing - is not an easy task.

After disappointing results months ago for the Labor Party in by-elections in two counties in the capital, London, in which the party won only one seat out of 3 seats that were contested, the party was able to snatch two new seats in by-elections held yesterday, Thursday, with a remarkable majority, in what was described as the largest vote swing in history. A Tory constituency in favor of Labor for nearly 3 decades.

The British newspaper The Guardian said, "These results are a strong indication of an expected decisive victory for the party in the upcoming parliamentary elections."

But it may not seem easy to predict what the British voter will settle on on polling day, as an opinion poll conducted by the Muslim group in the Labor Party showed a noticeable decline in the percentage of support that the party enjoys among the Muslim minority in Britain.

The number of Muslims who announced their intention to vote for the party during the next elections decreased to no more than 43%, while the percentage of Muslims who expressed their desire to vote for the party during the previous elections reached 86%.

At a time when the party is trying to remedy the decline in support among the Muslim minority, controversy has arisen over its handling of accusations leveled against some of its members of making statements described as “anti-Semitic.”

This came after the Labor Party decided to withdraw its support for one of its candidates for the upcoming elections due to his criticism of Israel, while it announced that it would stop supporting another candidate in another by-election expected at the end of this month on the grounds that he had made “anti-Semitic” statements.

Source: Al Jazeera