Andy Burnham, described as a possible future prime minister of Britain and a Labour Party leader, has formally apologised, saying the party’s stance at the start of Israel’s military operation in Gaza was not right. Signalling a major shift in Middle East policy, he made clear that under his leadership Labour would have to take a more forceful role on Gaza, The Guardian reported online. In an interview with the paper, Burnham said: “After Israel’s military operation in Gaza began, many felt my party could not take the right decision, and for that I am sorry.”
“Our response was often not good enough. We need to do better,” he said, acknowledging that Britain had been far too slow to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. He also signalled that, if a new administration came to power, it would step up pressure on the Israeli government — including by banning all trade in goods with illegal settlements and imposing tougher sanctions on Israeli individuals and institutions.
The episode could prove awkward for Keir Starmer, the former Labour Party leader. In a radio interview after Hamas’s attack in October 2023, Starmer had said Israel had the right to cut off water and power supplies to Palestinians. That controversial remark, and a subsequent long delay in recognising a Palestinian state, angered large numbers of Muslim and progressive voters in Britain, many of whom left Labour for the Green Party. Burnham’s public apology is aimed largely at winning back those disaffected voters. Even so, despite strong demands from the left, Burnham declined to describe the situation in Gaza directly as “genocide.”
He said there was evidence that war crimes had been committed in Gaza, but that it was for international courts, not politicians, to determine whether it amounted to genocide. Criticising that position, Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali alleged that Burnham was using the international courts as a pretext to sidestep the real truth — because directly admitting war crimes would, under legal obligations, force an immediate halt to all British arms sales to Israel.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report