Labour MP rejects need for minutes silence for victims of Hamas terror at conference event
Streatham MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy told the Labour and Palestine fringe event at the party's conference; 'If we were holding a minute's silence for the dead in this conflict we would doing it every year'
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A Labour MP has rejected the need for one minutes silence in memory of more than 900 Israelis butchered by Hamas terrorists at a fringe pro-Palestine event by claiming:”We should be clear, if we were holding a minute’s silence for the dead in this conflict we would doing it every year.”
Streatham MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy dismissed the need for a symbolic gesture of remembrance only minutes after Labour MPs, councillors and members had been told by party officials to stage a well-observed minutes silence in solidarity with Israel inside the main arena, adding “For the whole of my life there has been killing and bloodshed.”
Her remarks will infuriate Labour leader Keir Starmer, who is expected make a strong and clear statement in support of Israel, while condemning Hamas, in his leaders speech at the conference on Tuesday.
Angela Rayner had led Labour conference in the perfectly observed silence for Israel inside the main hall at 5pm on Monday.
Angela Rayner leads Labour conference in a moment’s silence for Israel. You could hear a pin drop in the hall. pic.twitter.com/c1CJKPdWCt
— Jack Elsom (@JackElsom) October 9, 2023
At the same Labour and Palestine fringe event, held with the official conference arena at 5.30pm and supported by the Unite union,the notorious pro-Palestine campaigner Hugh Lanning also referenced last weekend’s atrocities adding:” If you condemn the loss of life on one side, you must condemn the loss of life on all sides.”
Lanning also thought it appropriate to update the famous poem First They Came by Pastor Martin Niemöller, written to express regret for those who had not spoken out ahead of the Nazi Holocaust.
The former union official told activists it was becoming “to speak at meetings at Labour events in support of Labour adding:”First they came for those people who mentioned those three letters BDS, then it was coming for people who mentioned the word apartheid, and now its the the P word really, you can’t even mention that word Palestine, or peace.”
Looking back at the terror attacks in Israel last weekend, Lanning, who set up the Labour And Palestine group, said it was “right we condemn the loss of civilian lives and innocent lives.”
He then added:”But international law is not a pick and mix. If you condemn the loss of life on one side, you must condemn the loss of life on all sides.”
When he came to speak at the fringe, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell offered a clear condemnation of Hamas as he read out a short statement.
In contrast to his former leader Jeremy Corbyn’s comments a day earlier, McDonnell said:”I want to start by saying something personal, as a dad, and as a granddad.
“My children are the most precious gift I received in my life. So, to see the scenes of what happened in Israel, and to those young people at the music festival was horrifying and shocking.
“I can’t imagine what their parents are going through. So that’s why I do condemn the killing of innocents, I do condemn the killing of those innocents by Hamas. ”
McDonnell then proceeded to condemn the murder of civilians on both sides.
Earlier in her speech Ribeiro-Addy accepted there had indeed been a “truly horrific” loss of life over the weekend, adding “loss of life should always shock us” and that the “tragedy was even greater when the deaths were in such great numbers.”
But in a clear attempt to place the worst terrorist atrocity committed since 9/11, that has left thousands more Israelis injured, alongside other clashes, she began by saying:”We could have begun this meeting with a minutes silence marking all the terrible loss of life and appalling injuries that have occured over this past weekend.”
In a apeech that will infuriate the Labour leadership, rather than accepting it was appropriate to pay respects those raped, slaughered and kidnapped by Hamas, Ribeiro-Addy, who briefly served as a shadow minister continued by saying; “For the whole of my life there has been killing and bloodshed.”
She added:”We should grieve for innocent victims on both sides.”
As she spoke, the left-wing MP told the audience that she was reading from notes to ensure that her speech would not be misinterpreted by the media.
She also claimed it was “fiction” to suggest that the brutal Hamas onslaught last weekend had “interrupted or damaged” the prospects of peace, adding “there are no peace talks and there haven’t been for years.”
Without naming Israel or Hamas, Ribeiro-Addy said the conflict was an “unwinnable war”.
She then proceeded to blame the UK as being responsible for the “disaster of the Balfour Declaration…. the gross abuses of the mandate, and the disaster of the Nakba.”
Ribeiro-Addy addeed:”That is some record, and nothing to be proud of.”
She then spoke of the UK continuing to hold a “colonial mentality”, which she said was “the rubble of the empire.”
Also speaking at event was Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK who spoke of his “regret” at the mass murder last weekend.
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