The United Kingdom’s Labour Party has renamed the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign's event that will be held at Labour’s conference. The event, originally named “Justice for Palestine: End Apartheid”, has been renamed “Justice for Palestine.”
Labour’s current leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has rejected claims that Israel is an apartheid state.
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign complained about Labour’s decision to change the event, writing on X that “The Labour Party has removed references to Israeli ‘apartheid’ from the titles of PSC events and stalls at Labour conference. We won't be silenced. We will bring the Palestinian struggle against apartheid to the heart of conference. (thread) “
The Labour Party has removed references to Israeli ‘apartheid’ from the titles of PSC events and stalls at Labour conference. We won't be silenced. We will bring the Palestinian struggle against apartheid to the heart of conference. (thread) #Lab23 https://t.co/jLYzCqDSWf
— PSC (@PSCupdates) October 4, 2023
Attached to the post is an article by Labour List, which sites Amnesty International’s categorization of Israel as an apartheid state.
"When we organised a meeting between @btselem and a senior Labour frontbencher, they acknowledged the evidence of Israeli apartheid was indisputable. However, they said such language was “unhelpful” because it would alienate Israel's gov and pro-Israel groups in @UKLabour"
When we organised a meeting between @btselem and a senior Labour frontbencher, they acknowledged the evidence of Israeli apartheid was indisputable. However, they said such language was “unhelpful” because it would alienate Israel's gov and pro-Israel groups in @UKLabour
— PSC (@PSCupdates) October 4, 2023
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s former leader who was removed due to antisemitism, also described being unhappy with the Party’s decision. Corbyn wrote that: “The Palestinian people deserve better than this. We will not bring about peace by ignoring the reality of Israeli occupation, documented by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, the UN, B’Tselem and many more. End apartheid. Defend human rights. Free Palestine.”
The Palestinian people deserve better than this.We will not bring about peace by ignoring the reality of Israeli occupation, documented by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, the UN, B’Tselem and many more.End apartheid. Defend human rights. Free Palestine. https://t.co/Jh6fN6mZGL
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) October 4, 2023
Amnesty International also issued a statement criticizing Labour's decision, writing that "Airbrushing or ignoring the grim reality of Israeli apartheid won’t make it go away, and Labour and all other political parties in the UK need to fully engage with the enormity of Israel's human rights violations against Palestinians."
Our response to this: "Airbrushing or ignoring the grim reality of Israeli apartheid won’t make it go away, and Labour and all other political parties in the UK need to fully engage with the enormity of Israel's human rights violations against Palestinians" - @mclarenkv https://t.co/DqSZWvd2wd
— News From Amnesty (@NewsFromAmnesty) October 4, 2023
What is ‘apartheid’?
Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute defines apartheid as: “Apartheid refers to the implementation and maintenance of a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. Apartheid is a crime against humanity punishable under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. “
“Apartheid is a policy that is founded on the idea of separating people based on racial or ethnic criteria. Usually, the separation operated by apartheid is exercised over geographical areas, putting one part of the population in an area separated from the others, or forbidding a group to access some areas solely based on their belonging to a race or ethnicity.”
“Apartheid policies include, but are not limited to: the prohibition of mixed marriages, banning a specific racial or ethnic group from access to certain meetings and unions, and the restriction of movement, prohibiting access to certain public spaces.”
Israel’s security measures have repeatedly been accused of being apartheid policies. Palestinians without Israeli citizenship may not cross the Greenline, into Israeli territory, without government permission. Under Israeli law, Arabs have the same legal rights as Jews, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Additionally, Israel and Israeli advocates like UN Watch have repeatedly accused the organizations listed of having a bias against the Jewish state.