Ed Miliband has admitted that millions of Brits outraged by the oppression of Palestinians were “right”, speaking the day after dozens of peaceful pro-Palestine protesters were arrested outside the Labour party conference.
Miliband used his conference speech in Liverpool on Monday to say to those “moved by the plight of the Palestinian people”: “We hear you. You were right.” His words received loud, sustained applause from the audience.
The foreign secretary is now being called upon by campaigners and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to stand up for the rights of people protesting Israel’s ongoing genocide, occupation and apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and drop the ban on Palestine Action.
Corbyn told Novara Media that Miliband is “right to vindicate those who spoke up for Palestine” but highlighted that “people are still being arrested for doing exactly that, including people outside the very conference hall in which he made that speech.”
Novara Media reported on mass arrests of elderly demonstrators outside Labour conference on Sunday, where nearly 200 people had gathered to call on prime minister Andy Burnham to drop the ban on Palestine Action and oppose Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Protesters, including pensioners, disabled people and a Church of England priest, held paper signs that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” Merseyside police confirmed they had arrested 82 people on suspicion of wearing or carrying an article supporting a proscribed organisation.
Miliband also declined to speak with pensioners facing arrest outside conference last night when confronted by activists in a Pizza Express.
Corbyn added: “If he really meant it, he would urge the home secretary to de-proscribe Palestine Action immediately.”
“If we were right, then those who ignored us were wrong – which is why we need a full public inquiry into Britain’s role in Israeli war crimes. Empty words won’t end Britain’s complicity in genocide – but action will.”
Stop the War convenor Lindsey German called on Miliband to avoid ‘hypocrisy’, saying: “Miliband describes the suffering in Gaza as a ‘stain on the world’s conscience’ and that his parents taught him to ‘never walk by’. Yet his silence on Palestine Action and on the government’s attack on the right to protest is the opposite of that and is in danger of appearing hypocritical.”
German also urged Miliband to “demand” that Burnham and the home secretary de-proscribe Palestine Action and “reverse the legislation that now criminalises large amounts of previously lawful protest”.
The foreign secretary said in his conference speech that Labour’s approach to the Middle East had been “reset” under Burnham’s leadership and words would be matched with action.
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