Members of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party have voted to recognise that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, in a move that increases pressure on the UK government to adopt the same position.
Delegates at Labour’s party conference approved an emergency motion backing the findings of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, which earlier this month concluded that Israel “has committed genocide”. The vote was strongly supported by trade unions.
The decision contrasts with Labour leader and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, as well as senior ministers, who have argued that the question of genocide should be determined by international courts rather than politicians.
Israel is facing a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in which it is accused of committing genocide.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy reaffirmed that stance following the conference vote.
“That means that it must be for the ICJ with their judges and judiciary, and for the ICC, to determine the issue of genocide in relation to the convention. It is not for politicians like me to do that,” he said, adding that he believed in “the rules-based order”.
“But it is for the public to look at what they see, and come to their own judgement about what they see,” he said.
Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign activist organisation, said that the vote is “a huge defeat for the government”.
“This historic vote must now become government policy: imposing comprehensive sanctions on Israel and a full arms embargo.
“If the government tries to ignore this momentous vote, it would not only be in denial of the facts, against public opinion, increasingly globally isolated, but also at war with its own party.”
Protests in solidarity with Palestine Action
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the Labour decision, writing on X: “While [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and [US] President [Donald] Trump are working tirelessly in Washington to end the war in Gaza, the UK Labour Party chooses to embrace Hamas and fully adopt its lies, including the fake-genocide campaign.”
“The world stands with the US and Israel in their efforts to end the war. Labour stands with Hamas,” it said.
The Labour vote came a day after Richard Tice, the deputy leader of the UK’s far-right Reform Party, visited Israel. Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar wrote on X that Tice had expressed his party’s opposition to the UK’s earlier recognition of a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly, and thanked him “for standing by Israel”.
The Gaza war has dominated this year’s Labour conference. Earlier on Monday, a pro-Palestinian activist interrupted Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves’s speech and accused the UK of complicity in Israel’s actions.
The protester, later identified as Sam P, stood up less than 10 minutes into Reeves’s address, holding a large Palestinian flag and asking: “Why is Britain still arming Israel?”
“Labour is complicit in the mass starvation of Palestinians,” he added.
Reeves responded: “We understand your cause and we are recognising a Palestinian state. But we are now a party in government, not a party of protest.”
Outside the venue, police confirmed they had arrested 66 people during a sit-in against the government’s ban on the activist group Palestine Action.
The demonstration began on Sunday afternoon, with about 100 people holding signs that read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
The UK government banned Palestine Action in April, designating it a “terrorist” organisation. The move came weeks after activists sprayed red paint over a Royal Air Force plane allegedly carrying weapon parts bound for Israel.
