A Status Quo of Genocide
‘There is a very strong status quo, but that status quo is enabling genocide and therefore it needs to go’
By Roxanna Brealey, BA History and Politics 28/10/2024
When the Labour Party won the recent general election, Keir Starmer declared that ‘change begins now’. I was somewhat hopeful that the incoming government would perhaps change their policy towards Palestine. I was wrong.
Almost instantly, when Iran sent missiles over into Israel on the 1st of October, Starmer released a video statement opining how he ‘utterly condemn[s] this attempt by the Iranian Regime to harm innocent Israelis.’ The stark hypocrisy can be immediately recognised by any progressive newsreader. Starmer has failed to condemn the Israeli Government for blatantly harming innocent Palestinians. He did not condemn the Israeli missiles that were sent into Lebanon that have so far displaced over a million civilians, nor did he call out the pager explosions that severely injured hundreds. His only action has been to call for an immediate ceasefire whilst simultaneously continuing to send weapons that enable this genocide. If this isn’t an episode of Black Mirror unravelling right in front of our eyes, I don’t know what is.
For Starmer, the lives of innocent civilians in the Middle East do not register as worthy enough. This has come as a disappointment to many as there was always the potential that Starmer, the former human rights lawyer, could U-turn on his previous position. Unfortunately, the UK’s alliance with Israel is something Starmer is not willing to flip-flop on, despite his legal background. In 2022, Starmer firmly rejected Amnesty International’s characterisation of Israel as an apartheid state. Recently, his government dropped the opposition to the ICC’s arrest warrant for Netanyahu. However, note that he is not supporting the arrest; rather, he is remaining neutral. This should barely be deemed as a step towards the right direction. Starmer is simply putting on a blindfold and turning the other way.
There is a stake in the game for Starmer to be a Zionist. After all, the UK helped with the creation of Israel. Starmer himself has extended Israeli family so there is a pertinent personal connection. Additionally, the UK’s identity as a Christian country is significant, as biblical prophecy dictates that God promised Israel to the Jewish people. There is a very strong status quo, but that status quo is enabling genocide and therefore it needs to go.
The blatant disregard for human life and the indiscriminate killing is entirely indefensible but has been enabled and can be explained (though not excused) by the continuing legacy of colonialism. An underlying feature of Western intervention in the Middle East is the desire for oil, such a strong desire that it has cost innocent human lives and the tenants of democracy. Britain has happily undermined various countries’ political systems in order to reap the economic benefits of oil control. Take Iran in 1953 for instance. The British overthrew a democratically elected regime to remain in control of a rich oil supply.
When taking this into account alongside Palestine, one can note how in 2019, the UN published a report defining the oil and gas potential that the country has. Israel already utilises these resources and shares none of the profits. If Starmer were to treat Palestinians as more than a mere footnote in their own land, he would also have to admit that they deserve control over the oil and gas reserves. By supporting Israel’s genocide, Starmer will get dealt a better hand in the oil game: a politically tactical move when the use of Russian resources is no longer deemed acceptable.
It is very clear that the Zionist status quo looms heavily over the British political establishment. It is necessary to recognise the difficulty of overturning the entrenched nature of such an ideology. But at what cost? The cost of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives, a never-ending cycle of political instability, and radicalism. Zionism has been used to defend the genocide of the Palestinian people under the noble cause of protecting Jewish people. If change does not begin now, then when? Starmer must act.
