UK: 56 Labour Lawmakers Vote for Gaza Ceasefire

Facts

• 56 members of parliament (MPs) from the Labour Party, including shadow ministers, have backed a motion from the Scottish National Party (SNP) for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, defying party leader Sir Keir Starmer who supported so-called humanitarian pauses.¹
• The amendment to the King's Speech was ultimately rejected, 294 to 125, on Wednesday evening, largely due to the Conservative majority in parliament. Yet, the rebellion puts Sir Keir at odds with many members of his own party who gathered in Parliament Square to lobby for a ceasefire.²
• Eight shadow ministers have resigned, including Jess Phillips, Naz Shah, Afzal Khan, Yasmin Qureshi, Paula Barker, Rachel Hopkins, Sarah Owen, and Andy Slaughter, as well as two parliamentary private secretaries, Mary Foy and Dan Carden.³
• This is reportedly the biggest frontbench exodus in the House of Commons since 16 ministers quit Boris Johnson's government in the sunset of his premiership in 2019.⁴
• Prior to the vote, Labour officials had stated that any frontbencher who supported the amendment explicitly calling for a ceasefire in Gaza would be sacked from their position.⁵
• Britain's King Charles III outlined the government's policy agenda on Nov. 7, reasserting support for Israel and vowing that the country would help bring humanitarian aid into Gaza and support peace and stability in the Middle East.⁶

Sources: ¹BBC News, ²Independent, ³Sky News, ⁴The Telegraph, ⁵The Guardian and ⁶Al Jazeera.

Narratives

• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by INews. Those calling for a ceasefire are not blind to the suffering of Israelis or the brutality of Hamas. What they understand is that since both strategies require trust in Hamas not to use the downtime as an opportunity to regroup, a longer ceasefire would allow for rebuilding critical infrastructure. A ceasefire is a longer version of a humanitarian pause, which is what innocent Palestinians need if they're going to get the food, water, and medical attention they need within that timeframe.
• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by The Atlantic. The back-and-forth nature of this decades-long conflict has proven that Hamas, not the Palestinian people, will never agree to any form of peaceful pause in violence. While humanitarian aid should be given to the many innocent civilians caught in the crossfire, Israel now has a duty to finally free both sides from the evil pursuits of this terror group. Both Israelis and Palestinians want permanent peace, but that will not happen until the root of this tragedy is demolished for good.

Predictions