Three years into Israel’s colonial genocide in Gaza, Jewish peace campaigners have dedicated a public Yom Kippur fast to people continuing to suffer in the occupied Palestinian territory. In a press release, Jewish Peaceniks UK said the purpose of the public fast was:
to express their horror and outrage at the continued starvation, killing and extreme deprivation of the Gazan population.
This was a particularly relevant act considering Israeli occupation forces are:
continuing to withhold food and humanitarian aid to an entire population.
‘Stop the starvation, genocide, and arms sales’ on Yom Kippur
Lasting around 25 hours, the Yom Kippur fast sought to:
draw attention to the powerful and growing Jewish opposition to the actions of a Jewish state against the Palestinian people in Gaza and beyond, and to stop the forced starvation of Gaza, stop the genocide and demand our government backs up their sanctions on Israel by stopping arms sales.
Jewish Peaceniks UK is a grassroots organisation that has organised and participated in numerous events in solidarity with Palestinian people. Many of the activists are descendants of Holocaust survivors who are:
deeply disturbed at the horrific irony of a genocide being perpetrated ‘in our name’ by a Jewish state.
The group explained that Yom Kippur is “the holiest day in the Jewish Calendar” and is an opportunity to “consider our misdeeds over the past year”.
In one video from the event (see below), a speaker called out those in public life who have refused to accept the conclusion of countless experts that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. And he reminded attendees that:
genocide denial aids genocide
https://www.thecanary.co/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/1000098823.mp4
New suits, same denial
Disgraced former prime minister Keir Starmer infamously refused to acknowledge that Israel was committing genocide. Instead, he continued to roll out the red carpet for Israeli leaders, actively support the apartheid state via RAF Akrotiri, and ramp up state suppression of public resistance to the UK’s genocide complicity.
New prime minister Andy Burnham has introduced some symbolic measures to try and curb widespread criticism of the government’s ongoing support for Israel. But he has also refused to call its decimation of Gaza a genocide and act accordingly. Foreign secretary Ed Miliband has also refused to call it a genocide.
In short, the genocide denial of the Starmer regime has very much continued under Andy Burnham. This has prompted groups like Doctors without Borders to keep pressuring the government to “acknowledge and condemn the genocide”. Because as the Jewish Peaceniks Yom Kippur event reminded us:
genocide denial aids genocide
Featured image and additional images supplied
By Ed Sykes
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