Labour tried to appease the far-left on Gaza. It didn't work

With the dust settling on the Gorton by-election, one stark conclusion stands out above all others from this grim and toxic campaign: Keir Starmer’s desperate attempts to placate the anti-Israel hard left have not only failed, they’ve supercharged the very sectarian forces he hoped to tame.

The result should be a moment of sober reflection, not just for the Prime Minister, but for all those who believe themselves to be part of the moderate and pragmatic tradition of Labour.

The Gaza-fuelled victory of the Green Party was the culmination of a political dynamic that this struggling Labour government itself has helped to create, one in which visceral hostility towards Israel has been normalised, amplified and, at times, rewarded.

During PMQs on Wednesday there was one moment when Starmer effectively conceded the game was up as he went out of his way to wildly accuse “unconscionable” Israel of killing Palestinians by withholding aid. No attempt to convey the reality on the ground under the current ceasefire framework or the role of Hamas in manipulating aid. It was desperate stuff, with both eyes on those Gorton communities the Green Party had been showering with Urdu-language leaflets.

Throughout 2025, in an effort to contain internal dissent and placate the anti-Israel activists that now dominate left-wing politics, the Government adopted an increasingly hostile tone towards an ally still fighting a war on multiple fronts and trying to free its hostages held in Gaza. In the House of Commons David Lammy, then Foreign Secretary, seized any and every opportunity to condemn Israel with language deliberately far harsher than any he used about Hamas.

Then came the policy changes that ranged from performative to self-harming: a partial arms embargo framed as moral necessity; the suspension of trade talks presented as virtue; and the spiteful blocking of Israeli diplomats and officers from participating at the College of Defence Studies.

Whatever one’s view of the Middle East conflict, this approach has not calmed the waters. It has fed the beast.

Labour’s pandering didn’t neutralise the radicals; it has emboldened them. Worse, it has normalised a discourse that too often slips from valid criticism of Israel into outright antisemitism. Labour has helped give legitimacy to a form of sectarian politics that thrives on division and hate and where Israel-bashing has become a badge of progressive authenticity.

The Greens have been astute in recognising this shift.

Once caricatured affectionately as the party of cycle lanes, community gardens and saving hedgehogs, they have repositioned themselves as an unapologetic vehicle for full-blown anti-Zionism. In Gorton their campaign leaned hard into anti-Israel rhetoric, boycotts, and dog-whistle talk of “Zionist influence.”

This isn’t a gentle evolution. It’s a cynical lurch to harvest votes in certain communities by weaponising the Middle East conflict. The cuddly eco-party has become the sectarian protest party.

Labour should not delude itself that echoing this rhetoric will win those voters back. It will not.

Concessions only validate the premise that Britain’s primary moral task is to ostracise a valued ally that is still fighting to secure its peaceful existence after 78 years of near-constant attack. Each step taken to appease the loudest voices merely shifts the centre of gravity further towards sectarian activism.

A serious governing party must return to pragmatic foreign policy, one that recognises alliances, supports a viable peace process and refrains from trashing long-standing partners for short-term domestic management. Britain gains nothing from isolating our friends and emboldening our enemies.

But this isn’t just Labour’s mess. Every mainstream party – Labour, Liberal Democrats and Conservatives too – must draw a line. We have to stand united and show backbone against this growing sectarian poison seeping into our politics.

If we don’t, we will find that the very character of British democracy itself changes unrecognisably.

Greg Smith MP is parliamentary chair of Conservative Friends of Israel