Meet the new 'Gaza Bloc' of MPs ready to take on pro Israel Starmer!

Right, so as much as Labour will be celebrating winning seats across the country, though in actuality it would be more accurate to say the Tories lost them, that wasn’t to say Labour didn’t get handed their backsides in numerous other seats and indeed the handful of Independent candidates elected across England, 5 of them won their seats at Labour’s expense and it is perhaps no coincidence all of them stood, although not necessarily exclusively so, on pro Palestine platforms. It shows that although Labour figures apparently believed the furore over Gaza would die down, it has not, it is an issue that is not going to go away and being as pro Israel as Keir Starmer is and so many other Labour figures are known to be, especially those belonging to Labour Friends of Israel at that, it is arguably going to be an issue Labour will be pushed hard on. Where Tory figures and Tory supporters may not care so much about the issue of Gaza and the Tories could largely get away with much criticism internally, Labour does not have the luxury, they will be held more accountable and with a potential ‘Gaza Bloc’ of pro Palestine MPs able to freely hold Starmer to account on these issues, expect them to do exactly that.
Right, so with the election of what can ostensibly be described as a Gaza Bloc of MPs, though certainly at local level there will be other issues they will be dealing with as well, and raising in parliament too, the wins for Jeremy Corbyn of course, the best known and hardly one I need to go into detail of given the coverage elsewhere, but also for Ayoub Khan, Shockat Adam, Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed ensuring that this is a topic that will never go ignored for long in parliament and difficult questions for Starmer, should he continue ardently supporting Israel no matter what they do, will be the very least he deserves to receive. It isn’t even just the matter of raising these issues around that have solely seen, certainly some of these candidates elected, but the attitudes, allegiances and commentary from some Labour MPs that they were stood against, exposed not just Labour indifference towards Gaza, but demonstrating the hierarchy of racism very much at work too.
The two examples of this that stand out and I’ve covered both of these incidences in detail in other videos specifically about them, I have no doubt helped elected Shockat Adam and Ayoub Khan. Independent campaigns suffer greatly from lack of resources, lack of campaigners, lack of media attention and the two incumbent MPs that got deservedly dumped out of their jobs, despite Labour winning a landslide.
Shockat Adam is now the new MP for Leicester South, a hugely diverse community, where in 2019 the incumbent Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth won 67% of the local vote, yet his ridiculous antics of fleeing from constituents wanting to question him about his and the party position on Gaza, notably, footage of which saw him on the phone claiming to be being bullied and harassed and begging people to not let such people win and his racist language concerning Bangladeshi migrants particularly, echoing what his boss Starmer had said too, saw him deservedly sacked by his constituents and replaced by Adam, a local optician, for whom the Labour position on Gaza was what prompted him to stand against Labour and why, in his victory speech he held up a keffiyeh and told those assembled that this was for Gaza. In an interview Adam made it clear that he was doing this to hold whoever was in power, or would be in power to account, but more so if that is Labour, because the area has historically given Labour their vote, but for what in return? As much as Gaza is not a uniquely Muslim issue, the Palestinian people being Muslim themselves for the most part, means it’s easy to think that, but there is no getting away from the fact that in a constituency that is one third Muslim, this was going to be an issue significant enough, to have a real impact. That hasn’t stopped some mainstream outlets, the Guardian notably I’ll point to for this, painting Ashworth as a victim of Labour’s complacency over Gaza. Ashworth was one of the leading voices causing offence, he was no damn victim, the victims are in Gaza and he’s been replaced by a guy who will keep pointing that out in parliament.
Similarly, Ayoub Khan overturned the 15,317 vote majority of Khalid Mahmood in Birmingham Perry Barr to be elected as their new MP, following footage of Mahmood, himself Muslim berating other Muslims as illiterate for not understand Labour’s position on the matter of Gaza. Khan is interesting, he’s a barrister by trade and indeed has been Liberal Democrat for years, he was elected as a Lib Dem councillor in 2003 and only resigned as a Lib Dem in in May, so that he could fight the General Election as an independent, choosing to do so after his party had allegedly told him to ‘hush up’ his concerns over the Gaza War, now into it’s tenth month, which really says a lot about that party’s position on Gaza if true. Birmingham Labour MPs have all seen, in spite of Labour’s landslide, their majorities slashed, Jess Phillips majority in Yardley cut from more than 10,000 to less than 700, so nearly beaten herself and Shabana Mahmood in Ladywood’s majority was cut from over 28,000 to less than 3,500 and similar has happened to the Labour MPs too. For anyone lauding the Labour majority in parliament right now, asking why so many Labour MPs saw their majorities drop instead of grow and asking why the number of votes cast for Labour in 2024 was actually lower than in 2019, which was supposedly the worst election for Labour since 1935 are questions that can legitimately be aimed at Labour now. The Tories lost, Labour have benefited from that, rather than won. Gaza, though certainly not the only issue did play a not insignificant part in this picture and if you’re still saying why should we here in the UK care, just because you as an individual might not, a lot do. Maybe you should reflect on such sociopathic attitudes, especially if you remain unmoved by so much of the imagery that has been seen on social media for months now, but Labour absolutely should be in a reflective mood.
Where Shockat Adam and Ayoub Khan gained media attention in some part because they took out relatively high profile and prominent Labour MPs, this wasn’t so much the case with Adnan Hussain and Iqbal Mohamed.
Hussain is a solicitor from Blackburn, who snatched the win by 132 votes over Labour incumbent Kate Hollern, who was defending a majority of over 18,000. Again, Gaza was the key issue here and like Jon Ashworth in Leicester South, the constituency is roughly one third Muslim. But again, I have to keep pointing it out, mainly because the mainstream media insist in reflecting this on Muslim communities, that this is not a Muslim only issue. Labour should also reflect on the impact that turnout had here too, because turnout in Blackburn dropped from 61.8% in 2019 to 53.1%, nearly half the voting public didn’t bother to turn out and that is a bigger issue than just Gaza alone, that is a direct reflection on Starmer not being seen as any kind of change or alternative to the Tories we’ve just got rid of and with only 132 votes in it, that may have been the deciding factor in Labour losing a seat they’ve held since 1955 and the former seat of such Labour figures as Jack Straw and Barbara Castle.
Iqbal Mohamed, an IT consultant and engineer, was standing in a new constituency, Dewsbury & Batley, comprising parts of the former Labour held constituencies of Batley & Spen and Huddersfield and part of the at last election anyway, Tory held Dewsbury. Standing for Labour here was a former aid to Rachel Reeves, Heather Iqbal, but she was soundly beaten into second place as Iqbal Mohamed took the seat with a majority of nearly 7,000. He stood on a platform of yes, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the atrocities there, but also on the cost of living crisis in the UK, which Labour, especially when that two child benefit cap has caused so much harm and driven so much anger and resulted in part as well in voter apathy towards Labour, that a seat that should have been an easy Labour win according to polling, turned out to be anything but and is a fairly safe Independent hold going forwards and if Labour don’t deliver on this, then they will be punished heavily at the next election, given their majority is built on good fortune rather than sound foundation and voter support. My fear is it won’t happen and you only need look at others Starmer has imposed, though not necessarily successfully. Luke Akehurst is now an MP, a literal Israel lobbyist who will never vote in Palestine’s interests and against Israel. He has a near 6,000 vote majority now, but again a reduced turnout of 57%, down nearly 9% on 2019. Labour tried to impose one of Akehurst’s pro Israel lackey’s Shama Tatler into Chingford and Woodford Green, replacing Faiza Shaheen whilst she was literally out campaigning for Labour and so nobody can blame her for standing as an independent given all the work she had herself done in the constituency for the Labour Party, but the vote split meant the Tory incumbent Iain Duncan Smith kept his seat again.
What Starmer’s actions and attitudes on Gaza and Israel, along with those loyallists, some of whom survive with reduced majorities, some of whom have lost their seats, is the creation of what is being referred to now as a Gaza Bloc, for whom as much as Labour may continue or who may increase their vocal support for Israel in government now, they have this group that will oppose them on this, elected on mandates to do exactly that, in whole or in part, and certainly will on other issues too, but the matter of Gaza, has a stronger voice now than it did in the last parliament and Labour can choose to be a party that listens or shows it doesn’t care. If it is the latter, the damage such an attitude has already caused, will only grow and even as we all hope the genocide in Gaza ends soon, the Israeli occupation likely won’t and therefore this is a matter not going away for Starmer and Labour any time soon.
Of course it isn’t just seats Labour have lost over it’s handling of Gaza, it is members and councillors too, I think next year’s local elections, with Labour having been in power for the better part of a year by that point could be illustrative shall we say, not just with rises in Independents, but as a recent defection showed, the Green Party continuing to build a presence. Get the details of that story in this video recommendation here and I’ll hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.