I quit Starmer's Labour because of his attitude to Palestinian suffering

TWO years ago, I was proud to be elected as a Labour councillor in North Kensington, the area where I grew up

- Mona Ahmed

I am among the 20 Labour councillors who have submitted their resignation from the party in light of Sir Keir Starmer’s position on the atrocities unfolding in Gaza.

From the outset I have condemned the shocking attacks of October 7, which claimed the lives of 1,400 Israelis. It is absolutely correct to unequivocally condemn the killing of innocent civilians on both sides.

Instead of adopting this highly uncontroversial position, Starmer chose to provide disturbingly one-sided support for Israel, effectively giving a green light to the suffering and collective punishment of innocent civilians in Gaza which he, as a former human rights lawyer, must have known to be a war crime under the Geneva Convention.

In a filmed interview on LBC radio he appeared to claim that Israel had the right to withhold electricity and water from Gaza, endorsing the collective punishment of 2.2 million civilians.

Since then, he has failed to acknowledge the indiscriminate and disproportionate killing in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of 3,195 children and seen the bombings of health care services, churches and schools and destroyed whole neighbourhoods.