From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
UK Labour Party delegates pass non-binding motion urging government to declare Gaza war a ‘genocide’
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Delegates of the UK’s ruling Labour Party have voted to back a non-binding motion urging the government to recognize Israel’s war in Gaza as a “genocide,” at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool.
The motion made no mention of Hamas or the 48 hostages still held captive in Gaza, and called for the British government to “fully suspend the arms trade with Israel and the UK-Israel trade and partnership agreement,” the BBC reports.
Delegates favored the motion over a different resolution, which had called for the UK to impose sanctions on the Israeli government as a way to pressure it to “respect international law,” while at the same time “continue to demand the immediate release of all hostages,” the BBC report adds.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who served as the UK’s foreign secretary until a recent reshuffle, said in response to the demand for the government to declare the war in Gaza a “genocide,” that it was “for the [International Court of Justice] with their judges and judiciary, and for the [International Criminal Court], to determine the issue of genocide in relation to the convention.”
“It is not for politicians like me to do that,” he added.
The move was criticized by Labour Councillor for Stratford on Newham, Joshua Garfield, a member of the Jewish Labour Movement.
The motion “ignores Hamas entirely,” Garfield said ahead of the vote. “If we pass the motion, what would we be saying?”
“Don’t do a disservice for Palestinians fighting for peace or Israelis fighting for coexistence,” he said, in remarks cited by the Jewish Chronicle.
The Times of Israel Community.