Opinion: Tories know they're losing the battle over Palestine protests

In a column for Middle East Eye, John Rees argues that the UK Conservative Party's moves to label the ongoing pro-Palestinian demonstrations with extremism have shown that the party, and its leader Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, are losing the battle.

Rees writes: "This mass support for the Palestinian movement has, over the months since October, cracked open the establishment political consensus. At the first protest, only one MP, Jeremy Corbyn, attended the march, highlighting the almost complete gulf between the mass reaction against Israel’s actions and the politicians’ almost universal endorsement. 

But since then, a home secretary, Suella Braverman, has been fired after her attempt to ban protests and call out the far right to 'protect' war memorials ended in a riot between far-right Tommy Robinson supporters and the police in Whitehall.

A cabinet reshuffle followed, the first in modern history to be the direct result of a confrontation between ministers and a mass movement.

From that moment on, the cracks opened in the political establishment. The Liberal Democrats called for a ceasefire, as did the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.

The Labour Party has lost more than 100 local councillors, and the debacle of the Rochdale by-election saw it withdraw its candidate, Azhar Ali, after accusations of antisemitism were levelled at him, thus paving the way for George Galloway to win on a tide of support for Palestine.

And, of course, all this is happening in an international environment where Israel has become politically isolated, facing investigation by the International Court of Justice for genocide, and protected at several crucial UN votes only by the US veto and UK abstention."

You can read the full column by clicking below.

Opinion: Sunak's Tories know they're losing the battle over Palestine protests