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UK Labour Party Vote on Israel and Palestinians Is an Empty Gesture
(Ha'aretz) Anshel Pfeffer - At the debate at the UK Labour party's annual conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, the entire hall was waving Palestinian flags. A motion to condemn Israeli policies passed in a near-unanimous show of hands. Not only was this the only foreign policy issue debated at any length, but in a preliminary vote by party members on their agenda priorities, Palestine came fourth - outstripping issues of far greater relevance to British citizens such as the Brexit process and the crisis in the National Health Service. It certainly didn't reflect the priorities of the British public, and not even Labour voters. The Palestine debate was an exercise in virtue signaling by the party's ascendant hard left. Anyway, it was hardly a debate. There were no dissenting voices or anyone trying to present Israel's position. The motion freezing British arms sales to Israel is largely declarative, as Israel does not acquire any major weapons systems from Britain - just a few things that could easily be bought elsewhere. In fact, as far as arms sales go, British acquisitions of Israeli drones, missiles and airborne systems crucial to British operations - as well as most British military-flight training - is more than tenfold the value of British arms bought by Israel.