My weekly Comment Column in the daily Plymouth Herald (14.7.26), considering the recent statement of Prime Minister Burnham apologising for Starmer’s support for genocide in Gaza. Written the same day as the Church of England Synod debates and supports a report critical of Israel and accepting the existence of Palestine and the need to actively defend Palestinian Christians. The conclusion has to be – Protest Works! The constant protest, indefatigable and massive demonstrations in London and campaigning across the UK, indeed the world, has isolated and exposed the Israeli State and Zionism to a point where it is now dangerous for politicians not to oppose Israel. But Israel and the Zionist cause has a job to do for the global system of Capitalism: the maintenance of nationalism, racism (especially Islamophobia) and the logic of imperialist competition. The mass protests must be sustained and increased, especially the direct challenges to the military-industrial corporations linked to Israel. So, to London 18th July and Elbit on the 23rd – 11am, 38 Bolingbroke Way, Bristol, BS34 6FE.
The edited version below or expand the pic for the printed edit (at least something got printed!)
They say the Lord’s Prayer in Westminster. The two Houses swear to the Christian God, and to the King, whose official title is the “Supreme Governor” of the Protestant Church of England. But we do not consider opposition to Government policies and practices as opposition to Christianity.
Britain is a secular, multi-cultural country, with less than 5% of the Nation’s 68 million citizens actively attending Christian church once a month or more. One in four British Muslims worship weekly in a Mosque, and one-in-three Jews attend a synagogue weekly. Majorities everywhere do not devote their lives to religion, and in Britain the majority are practical agnostics.
It stands to reason that being critical of “the State”; challenging Government policies and practices, isn’t the same as challenging a religion. If we condemn the Government’s stance against asylum seekers we are not condemning Christianity, indeed we may well be invoking Christian principles. If we protest against British Imperialism and Colonialism – the exploitation and colonialism subjugating peoples and nations – we are not implicating the Christian Church, necessarily.
Yet now, there is an attempt to declare that any criticism of the Israeli State is an attack on the religion of Judaism and an offence against all Jews worldwide. The Israeli State is presented as a special case, exempt from usual political rules. It is proposed that all Jews are Israelis, not British or American or Russian or Chilean Jews. Every Jew alive today is supposed to ascribe to the policies of the Israeli State. They do not!
So criticising the Israeli State is declared to be antisemitic – religious and political hatred of Jews. There is an attempt to criminalise any damning the destruction of the civilisation of Palestine and calling the extermination of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Gaza genocide, alongside the illegal mass ethnic cleansing there and across the West Bank.
The creed of the Israeli State, the non-secular Apartheid politics of a country formed for a “single Race” called the Jews, to develop separately from the rest of humanity in their own interests, is documented as “Zionism”. Zionism is a political creed not a religion even if it refers to Judaism in the same way our State refers to Christianity. There are Christian Zionists, Hindu Zionists, Buddhist Zionists.
Zionism is a political ethno-nationalist far-Right philosophy steeped in the demand for each ethnic-religious group within humanity to have its own separate “homeland”. The State of Israel represents the military-industrial and cultural centre for this racist creed. This “separate development” explains why some fascist groups in Britain are supporting Israel’s military expansionism alongside their bigoted hatred of Muslims.
Today, Nurses and Doctors and Porters working in the National Health Service in England and Wales have now been told they face the sack if they declare or show any symbols of opposition to Zionism or to the Israeli State, as if they are acting from prejudice and racial hatred. In fact, they are expressing humanist principles for the valuing and protection of all life, echoing their Hippocratic Oath. Yet now, Palestine flags, attendance at protests and even portrayals of watermelons are banned, despite trade union policies in support of Palestine.
Little wonder that the British Medical Association has voted to reject The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-semitism (2016). The IHRA has been re-interpreted by police forces, the Crown Prosecution Service, the NHS, and local authorities across Britain to proscribe criticism of the actions and policies of the Israeli State or Zionism. This, despite the British State formally recognising the right of a Palestinian State to exist!
Such hypocrisy and injustice must not stand!
The overwhelming majority of governments across the world have condemned Israel’s atrocities. Spain has closed it’s embassy in Tel Aviv, the Israeli government calling the Spanish government “highly antisemitic”. Andy Burnham has declared that Starmer’s full support for Israel’s actions was wrong. He could put words to action by removing all charges against the 3,000 protesters labelled as terrorists. He could, as first act as Prime Minister, end the licences that allow the armed-drones manufactured here by the Israeli firm Elbit to be exported to Israel and used to kill civilians.
The Norwegian Football Association has donated all its income from the World Cup to Doctors Without Borders operating in Gaza, as a show of support for Palestine, The Egyptian team and fans flying the Palestinian flag. Yet these campaign statements are banned from our mainstream media. A brutal UK crackdown on our right to protest is happening right now, those standing in solidarity with Palestine bearing the brunt. We are being criminalised for daring to oppose the corrupt international war criminal, Netanyahu and his Zionist State. Throughout history, the greatest change has come from those brave enough to take to the streets. If we lose the freedom to speak out today, we lose the power to fight for anything tomorrow.
Let’s stand together to oppose Zionism and the perpetrators of genocide! Let’s defend our right to protest for Palestine, its land, its peoples and their rights. Saturday, 18th July, London and everywhere!
I have been challenged in formal complaints to the Plymouth Herald, now under legal review. The legal challenges are provided in italics. For the purpose of clarity, I offer reference points below:
a) Staunton writes that the IHRA working definition of antisemitism “has been interpreted by the NHS, police forces, the Crown Prosecution Service and local authorities across Britain to proscribe criticism of the actions and policies of the Israeli State or of Zionists.” The IHRA document itself contradicts this. Its accompanying illustrative examples state, in terms: “criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.” … the Herald has printed as fact a claim about British public institutions that is contradicted by the plain text of the document he is describing.
The issue of interpretation of the IHRA is not contested here – the complainant recognises there are conflicting interpretations, as do I in the piece. Indeed that’s the whole point. I posit that the IHRA is being used to define any criticism of the Israeli State as antisemitic. In practice, as seen by Police arrests of Palestine protesters, condemnation of the genocide has been used as “hate speech” and antisemitism. Interpretation is key here, anti-genocide protesters arrested under anti-terrorist legislation, UK citizens actively engaged in the genocide supported and free from challenge: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/london-police-refuse-investigate-british-nationals-accused-war-crimes-gaza Criticism of Israel is conferred by any support for Palestine and, indeed, opinion that the IDF assault inside Gaza is genocide. The UN has identified genocide since September 2025 (https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/09/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds
b) Staunton describes the Israeli state as built on “separate development”, for a supposed “single Race”. Both in quotation marks. Neither attributed.
The State of Israel is indeed, a racially hierarchical State: Israel as the Nation-State of the Jewish People, informally known as the Nation-State Bill or the Nationality Bill, is an Israeli Basic Law that specifies the country’s significance to the Jewish people. It was passed by the Knesset—with 62 in favour, 55 against, and two abstentions—on 19 July 2018 and is largely symbolic and declarative in nature. “Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people”: https://www.knesset.gov.il/constitution/ConstP22_eng.htm
c) Staunton writes that nurses, doctors and porters in the NHS in England and Wales “have now been told they face the sack if they declare or show any symbols of opposition to Zionism or to the Israeli State.”
In particular, the British Medical Association with direct links to the Trades Union Congress has asked this month (its the reason I wrote the piece) for a pause in the implementation of the IHRA because of “the risk it poses to staff by the implication that criticism of Israel’s genocide is an act of antisemitism”: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/nhs-palestine/ My comment warns of the “…attempt to criminalise any opposition…the illegal Israeli settlements and mass ethnic cleansing.” That is how I read the BMA challenge, and as a trade unionist, interpret the current employment challenges:
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/nhs-palestine
I write in defence of the right to protest, widely supported across unions and progressive campaign organisation, for example: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260119-judicial-review-launched-against-nhs-for-adopting-weaponised-anti-semitism-definition/
d) He writes that Christian nationalists, naming the US Vice President and “Tommy Robinson”, are supporting Israel “to further their bigoted hatred of Muslims”…an unsourced assertion about private motive, stated as fact rather than opinion, and it is of a piece with the rest.
Tommy Robinson keeps on saying it, eg: https://news.sky.com/story/tommy-robinson-set-to-debate-suspicion-of-islam-at-oxford-union-despite-outcry-13553595 A UK High Court case record (2019) describes Tommy Robinson as an “anti-Islam activist” and notes he referred to people in a case using inflammatory anti-Muslim language (e.g., calling defendants “Muslim child rapists”), which was part of why he received a custodial sentence. European Union A UK Parliament written-evidence document also describes associations between him (aka “Tommy Robinson”) and Islamophobia, saying it is “well-documented.” UK Parliament 4.13
J D Vance regularly appears alongside Christian Zionists: eg He has appeared in association with Christian nationalist figures and events tied to “Christian nationalism” (which overlaps with Christian Zionism). https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-significance-of-vances-appearance-at-event-hosted-by-far-right-christian-nationalist
J D Vance opposes Muslims in the USA: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jd-vance-anti-muslim-politices-common-sense_n_67243d72e4b0871068feb6c1
Perhaps I should have written more clearly, with sources taking-up much of the space. I try to link issues in my writing, which necessarily makes the word-count technically challenging. The complainant writes correctly the exact wording of the IHRA but that is not how it is being enacted. The IHRA guidance states antisemitism includes: “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.” I clearly do not.
Referring to the shut down of shows of support for Palestine by staff across the public sector, I specifically wrote, “…now there is an attempt (my emphasis) to declare that any criticism of the Israeli State is an attack on the religion of Judaism and an offence against all Jews worldwide. Every Jew alive today is said to subscribe to the policies of the Israeli State. They do not!” Indeed, “many British Jewish people do not associate Zionism simply with support for the existence of Israel. Research published in 2015 by City University found that 90% of British Jewish people support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state and 93% say that is forms some part of their identity as Jews, but only 59% consider themselves to be Zionists” Para 28: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmhaff/136/13605.htm
There is an enormous level of argument and controversy inside the British State about the laws and draconian impositions against the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and, specifically, the designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. More than 3,000 protesters have been arrested under terrorism legislation – why no outcry? (E.g. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp38z9lylddo )The Trades Union Congress specifically questions the designation as part of a questionable State assault on the right to protest (eg https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/09/10/trade-unions-demand-starmer-repeal-palestine-action-ban/), the issue I conclude with in the article: “This brutal crackdown on our right to protest against genocide must stop. We are being criminalised for daring to oppose the corrupt international war criminal, Netanyahu and his Zionist State.” I stand by that.
Emotional Climate 