Kensington & Bayswater Constituency Labour Party supports Israel’s genocidal military campaign in the Gaza Strip, reflecting the national Labour Party’s stance. But local Labour councillors are not obliged to support genocide and are free to resign from the party in protest or to speak out as a group. Why aren’t they?
Just one local Labour councillor, Mona Ahmed, has resigned in protest at Keir Starmer’s “endorsement of war crimes committed by Israel against civilians in Gaza.” Cllr Ahmed was Deputy Leader of the Labour Group in Kensington.
If other councillors want to oppose ethnic cleansing but not resign the whip, their other option is to speak out together to distance themselves from Starmer’s foreign policy. A source informed Urban Dandy that a statement to that effect was agreed between all Kensington Labour councillors on Monday 6th November.
But the statement, which calls for an immediate ceasefire, has remained unreleased. The issue was not that the statement was deemed too controversial. According to our source, some councillors pushed for a hard line against Israel and its crimes, while others were keen to appease national Labour officials and London Region officials who have effectively run the local party for the past 12 months.
The upshot is acquiescence from Labour in Kensington over Israel’s slaughter and a signal that Palestinian lives do not matter. At a vigil for Gaza and the victimes of the Grenfell Tower fire on Tuesday 14th November, several speakers called out the Labour Group’s silence.
Cllr Ali
The Leader of the Labour Group, Kasim Ali, is ultimately responsible for the non-publication of the statement. Last year, Ali’s candidacy to be Kensington’s next Member of Parliament was torpedoed by Labour officials who racially profiled British Somali party members to prevent them from voting for their preferred candidate. The same Labour officials also concocted an ‘antisemitism’ scandal to justify taking full control of the selection process, ensuring Ali could not win.
Despite this abusive treatment, Cllr Ali remained loyal to Labour and was elected Leader of the Kensington Group of councillors. Cllr Ali has not confirmed to us whether he is withholding the Gaza statement at the request of the London Region officials.
As we revealed last month, Kensington Labour Party was forced by London Region to disaffiliate from a raft of anti-war groups earlier this year. These included Stop the War Coalition; Peace & Justice Project; Jewish Voice for Labour and Palestine Solidarity Campaign, four organisations that have been prominent leaders in the huge protests against Israel’s killing in recent weeks.
by Tom Charles @tomhcharles
Urban Dandy 
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