EXCLUSIVE: Corbyn sends ‘Starmer complicit in genocide’ pamphlet to Westminster reporters
Islington North MP and four Gaza MPs sent document to Westminster lobby media urging them to hold prime minister "to account" over claims the UK complicit "genocide".
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Jeremy Corbyn and four independent MPs have sent an inflammatory pamphlet to Westminster lobby journalists urging them to hold the prime minister “to account” over claims the UK is complicit in the Gaza “genocide”.
The 10-page document includes sustained attacks on Keir Starmer over the government’s position on arms sales to Israel, and also of the PM’s criticism of the use of the term “genocide” in relation to the war against Hamas in Gaza.
UK political journalists across all national outlets are told that “exposing the truth comes at a cost” and speaking out against Israel “may damage personal relationships or hamper their professional ambitions”.
But the pamphlet, which was not sent to the Jewish News’ Westminster office, then tells journalists: “In an ongoing genocide, these risks are surely worth taking. In Gaza, journalists have paid with their lives.”
Every major television news outlet was sent the pamphlet in a sealed envelope, as were national print and online titles.
It is signed by the MPs Adnan Hussain, Ayoub Khan, Iqbal Mohamed, Jeremy Corbyn and Shockat Adam, who formed the Independent Alliance in the aftermath of the general election last year, with a series of aims including opposing austerity, the two-child benefit cap, the sale of arms to Israel and the abolition of the winter fuel allowance for most pensioners.
The group’s latest pamphlet, entitled “Journalism During a Genocide” was sent to the offices of lobby journalists at the beginning of this week, and coincided with the pro-Gaza MP Adam asking a question in the Commons on Tuesday on the accuracy of David Lammy’s statements to MPs on UK arms sales to Israel.
It calls for journalists to put mounting pressure on the PM over his comments allegedly “denying the existence of genocide in Gaza” and over the alleged UK “involvement in Israel’s military assault”.
It includes the claim that the UK “has played a highly influential role in Israel’s military operations, including the sale of weapons, the supply of intelligence and the use of Royal Air Force bases in Cyprus”.
The government has repeatedly insisted that the bases have been used to fly surveillance plans in the region in order to help in the detection of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
But the pamphlet also claims: “For too long the government has avoided real scrutiny over the full scale of its complicity in crimes against humanity. The media has a responsibility to hold the government to account and expose the truth.”
Explaining the decision to produce the booklet, which has no indication of how it was funded, the five MPs state: “We want to see an end to our government’s complicity in war crimes.
“That is why we have been campaigning for an end to all arms sales to Israel – and will continue to push for the only path to a just and lasting peace: an end to the occupation in Palestine.”
It also includes a series of questions that journalists are urged to put to the PM at press conferences, including: “When will you and the Foreign Secretary be returning to the House to retract your statements denying the genocide in Gaza?”
And: “Given the government has imposed widespread sanctions on Russia for breaches of international law, why won’t it do the same for Israel?”
The pamphlet ends with a suggested reading list, including links to articles published by Al Jazeera, Al-Haq and the Global Legal Action Network.
The last two groups are at the centre of a High Court action attempting to challenge the government over F35 fighter jet supplies to Israel.
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