Britain Faces Fallout from War in the Holy Land

How the ongoing conflict in Gaza affects domestic politics in the UK—and inside the center-left Labour Party.

London’s Metropolitan Police stand guard in Parliament Square during a February House of Commons debate on British policy toward the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. (Credit: Henry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images)

The conflict in Gaza is still making daily news headlines in the UK, five months on from the Hamas atrocities of October 7. Widespread condemnation of Hamas’ horrific actions and initial political backing for Israel’s right to defend itself has been followed by political and public unease at the extent of civilian casualties in Gaza.

Public concern about the conflict is growing rather than abating, fueled by the death toll of an estimated 29,000 Palestinians, harrowing personal stories brought to our screens by international reporters, and the continuing failure by Hamas to release Israeli hostages. Journalists from a wide spectrum of news outlets, including some of the UK’s most respected correspondents, are pressing Israel for access to report freely from Gaza beyond the controlled media trips authorized by the Israel government. The denial of free press access does not ease these concerns.

As in the U.S. and around the world, in the UK there was sincere revulsion at the crimes of Hamas against the Israelis on the October 7. The brutal nature of the attacks shocked Brits, and the plight of hostages and their families continues to be covered by the news media. Condemnation of Hamas’ actions echoed right across the political spectrum, and messages of “I stand with Israel” poured out from the public. Despite near-unity amongst the political parties that Israel has the right to defend itself, however, this sympathy hasn’t translated into clear public support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Even at the outset of the recent military action, 59 percent of the British public said Israel should stop its military action, call a ceasefire, and enter into peace negotiations with Hamas. This has only grown since: two-thirds of the public now want a ceasefire and peace negotiations. Two-thirds of the public also want to see a two-state solution to the conflict, which would see the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

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There is a similar pattern in other European countries polled by YouGov, whereby more people expressed support for Israel in the initial aftermath of the attacks but that support has since dropped while support for the Palestinians has recovered somewhat. Public opinion was very clear in every country that the attacks by Hamas were not justified, with more mixed views on the justification of Israel’s ongoing military response.

This underlying sympathy for the Palestinian cause is best understood in the context of Britain’s particular history with both Palestine and Israel. Whilst Britain’s relationship with Palestine goes back more than a century, plenty of British adults remember the Suez crisis of 1956 in which the Britain played an integral part; more still will have been taught about the Arab-Israeli conflict in school. In British culture, there is a live and ongoing interest in the land and people of Israel and Palestine, with popular documentaries and dramatizations of the conflict broadcast on mainstream television. Interestingly, YouGov’s demographic breakdowns of British attitudes towards the Israel-Hamas conflict show greater support for the Israeli side amongst the over-65 year olds than any other age group.

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The House of Commons was home to chaotic scenes in March, when a motion on Gaza tabled by the Scottish National Party was not debated in favor of one tabled by the Labour Party—a decision that caused uproar on all sides. Labour MPs wanting to back their leadership’s position would have been unable to support the SNP’s motion, which called explicitly for an immediate ceasefire and effectively accused the Israeli government of war crimes in Gaza. As a result, Labour tabled their own motion that they claim would have commanded wider political support. Some have suggested Labour were seeking to avoid a damaging rebellion of their own side; others that the SNP have sought to exacerbate the chances of a Labour split in parliament on the issue. To top it all, the Conservatives then decided they would withdraw their motion and play no part in the proceedings, and both the SNP and Conservatives then staged a walkout from the Chamber in protest.

Readers interested in the nuts and bolts of the UK parliament can digest this factual explainer, but the central takeaway is that all the main political parties were accused of putting party interests above the national interest on a deeply sensitive and serious matter. The parliamentary furore dominated the news for several days and occupied much of Westminster’s airtime, whilst having no impact on the conflict itself which continued apace. Many voters in Britain will have been left wondering what on earth their elected representatives were doing.

At the nub of the parliamentary disagreements was the tension the conflict has created domestically in Britain for the Labour Party. Labour leader Keir Starmer has taken the party on a journey from the political wilderness after its 2019 election defeat under then-leader Jeremy Corbyn and back into the centre ground of British politics, speaking of and for working people once again. His resolute backing for Israel’s response to Hamas’ attack could not have been in clearer contrast to his predecessor, whose previous sympathies for the terrorist group have been widely reported. After a torrid period where Labour under Corbyn was found to have breached equalities law over its failures to address antisemitism, a critical part of Starmer’s renewal of the party has involved rooting out antisemitism and winning back the trust of the Jewish community. 

But Labour’s initial seeming reluctance to support humanitarian pauses and send supplies into Gaza has created tension not least with large sections of Britain’s Muslim population, a majority of whom have supported Labour. Whilst the electoral impact of this discontent can be overstated, it is very apparent that feelings are running high on all sides. Many Brits have family affected—including two prominent politicians, Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf and Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, both of whom had family members trapped in Gaza. There have been a number of violent threats to Members of Parliament, and it is this, Labour claim, that was foremost in their minds as they negotiated parliamentary process. Labour was reportedly concerned that their MPs would be faced with heightened threats if they did not vote for a ceasefire, which may well have been a valid fear but has offended the long-held norm that parliament is sovereign over mob rule.

Every week the streets of central London host a vociferous demonstration of Palestinian supporters, which brings out an extremist element amongst the wider crowd of those moved by the plight of civilians in Gaza. There has been a worrying rise in antisemitism since the Hamas attacks, and likewise, in anti-Muslim hate, according to the charities monitoring incidents. Members of the London’s Jewish community have reported that they do not feel free and safe when those demonstrations take place. One (now former) Conservative MP, Lee Anderson, took to the airwaves to put the blame onto Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan, who happens to be one of the only prominent Muslim politicians in Britain, alleging that the “Islamists have got control of London, and of Khan.” After several days of senior Conservatives excusing his inaccurate and offensive comments, Anderson finally had the Conservative whip withheld and has just defected to Reform UK, a right-wing populist party gaining ground in the UK.

Into this cauldron stepped former Labour MP George Galloway, who just won a by-election in the parliamentary constituency of Rochdale for the Workers’ Party of Great Britain. American readers may recall Galloway from his 2005 testimony to a U.S. Senate hearing, but for many in British politics Galloway is associated with a divisive far-left politics which includes denying that Israel has a right to exist. The Labour Party had to withdraw its backing for its already-selected candidate close to polling day after comments came to light that suggested Israel knew about the October 7 attacks before they took place. The Rochdale constituency has a 30 percent Muslim population, and Galloway focused his campaign on the Israel-Hamas conflict. As he took to the podium to accept his comfortable victory over the mainstream candidates, Galloway pronounced “Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza… Labour is on notice that they have lost the confidence of millions of their voters who have loyally and traditionally voted for them generation after generation.”

With the temperature raised, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak went on to make an address to the nation from the steps of Downing Street the following day at the unusual time of a Friday evening. He appealed to the country to reject extremism and back the police who have the unenviable task of protecting people’s right to protest peacefully whilst ensuring the public’s safety and lawful freedom of speech. As Britain’s first prime minister of color, Sunak has more legitimacy than most to set out the case for our shared values. The speech was light on solutions, but its purpose was to show some of the political leadership that has so far been lacking. Less charitable observers suspect it lines the Conservatives up for a general election campaign later this year where they will attempt to portray the Labour Party as weak on extremists.

All of this party-politicking obscures the reality that the positions of the governing Conservative Party and main opposition party on the conflict have been fairly similar to those of the Biden administration and moving along the same trajectory. They have figured that it makes no sense for there to be significant divisions amongst Israel’s allies in the interests of retaining influence with the Israeli government whilst working towards a sustainable ceasefire and long-term two-state solution.

The distressing news emerging daily from Gaza, the failure to release the remaining hostages, and the intransigence of Israeli and Palestinian political leaders may make that solution feel further away than ever. But intriguingly since the start of the recent conflict there has actually been a slight increase in the British public’s belief that a permanent solution is possible between the Palestinians and the Israelis within the next ten years. British Foreign Secretary and former PM Lord David Cameron suggested that the UK could recognise a Palestinian state as part of a process that sees Israel and Palestine existing securely and peacefully side-by-side. Despite the ongoing public support for a ceasefire, however, its advocates have been unable to say how Israel’s security will be assured should Hamas not be defeated militarily. Political language may have shifted, but practical plans to move from bitter, traumatic war to lasting peace remain opaque at best.

In the past, political centrists have been pioneers of forging peace through diplomacy, common endeavour, and bolstering the efforts of those working across divides to bring violent conflict to an end. We are now in an era of global volatility with unreliable actors and an even more uncertain future. 2024 will be a defining year in determining the future shape of our world order. Now is the time for the center-left on both sides of the Atlantic to find strength and purpose in our collaborative international efforts, should voters in our nations give us the chance to move forward together, again.

Claire Ainsley is Director of the PPI Project on Center-Left Renewal at the Progressive Policy Institute, and former Executive Director of Policy to UK Labour Leader Keir Starmer, 2020-22. The project launched in January 2023.