Unite and GMB leaders have spoken against direct action against UK weapons-makers
Lebanese teachers’ union head Fateh al-Sharif has been murdered, along with his wife and his two children, by an Israeli missile strike targeted at their home in a refugee camp in southern Lebanon. The attack almost certainly used weapons made in, or using components made in, the UK – either fighter jets or Elbit Systems attack drones. Attempts by Israeli propagandists to excuse the murders by linking al-Sharif to Hamas have already begun.
Unite union boss Sharon Graham has condemned attempts by anti-genocide groups to shut down factories making the lethal weapons in the UK, making it clear that she prioritises arms jobs over the lives of Palestinians. In a widely-condemned email to union staff and organisers she wrote:
we cannot and will not endorse any organisation which decides unilaterally and without any discussion (let alone agreement) with the workers themselves, to support the targeting of our members’ workplaces or their jobs. To be clear, this will not happen. No outside body, no matter what their political position, will be allowed to dictate terms to our Union and our members.
It is important to highlight here that it is a core principle of Unite that as a trade union the ‘first claim’ on our priorities is always the protection and advancement of our members’ interests at work. It is very simple. Unite cannot and never will advocate or support any course of action which is counter to that principle. We are a trade union, not a political party or single-issue campaign group.
Unite members responded with disgust, accusing Graham of:
spit[ting] on the memory of the Rolls Royce workers in East Kilbride who, in 1973, refused to work on the engines of Chilean aircraft which had taken an active part in Pinochet’s fascist coup.
Graham’s record on Gaza has been heavily criticised since Israel’s genocide began. Her chief of staff threatened a (now-retired) senior officer with the loss of a pension bonus if he did not soften his support for Palestinians against Israel’s genocide and Graham has been accused of trying to clamp down on union activists’ solidarity with Gaza against Israel’s genocide.
She has been exposed behind the union’s decision to ban showings in Unite’s buildings of a film exposing racism, smears, rigging and abuse by the Labour right and has appeared to grow increasingly cosy with red-Tory Labour ‘leader’ Keir Starmer – and she was accused of trying to have a pro-Palestine Unite fringe meeting at the 2023 conference cancelled, then put the union official who refused under investigation.
GMB boss Gary Smith has said that Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu ‘must go’, but also spoken against protests at weapons factories. In 2022, he wrote a letter to the Tolpuddle workers’ festival demanding that Palestinian-British rapper Lowkey, a vocal anti-racist activist and opponent of Israel’s genocide, be removed from the list of artists performing at the festival. Lowkey responded by pointing out that the GMB’s members – like the memberships of Unite, Unison and other unions – have consistently voted unanimously or heavily for a full boycott of Israel while it continues to oppress Palestinians.
Union leaders who have enabled Israel’s murderousness by opposing protest and supporting the ardently pro-Israel Keir Starmer should hang their heads in shame. The blood of Israel’s victims stains their hands too.
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graham – every bit the weasel bill morris was.
Murderous Israel is getting away with mass indiscriminate Murder. Unite GS Sharon Graham is doing her level-best to make it easy for them. Full respect to Lowkey.
Boycott Israel and the media that don’t speak-out against it.
I notice israel’s calling it a: war with Lebanon
So – not hizbollah, then? Y’know?
Like the butchery in gaza was/is no such thing, but:
a war with hamas – NOT Gaza
The Lebanese Army are withdrawing to positions 5+km from their border with Israel. It looks like the Lebanese are leaving Hezbollah to it.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/sep/30/israel-attacks-live-blog-lebanon-yemen-hamas-hezbollah-news-updates-middle-east-crisis?page=with:block-66faf3058f0894769732d0ff#block-66faf3058f0894769732d0ff
and
Lebanon ready to implement Resolution 1701; ending Israeli aggression key to solution: Mikati
Ahram Online , Monday 30 Sep 2024
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that Lebanon is ready to fully implement the UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the Israeli war against it in 2006, and that ending the Israeli aggression on the country is the key to the solution.
“We in Lebanon are ready to implement 1701, and immediately upon the implementation of the ceasefire, Lebanon is ready to send the Lebanese army to the area south of the Litani River and to carry out its full duties,” in coordination with UN peacemakers, Mikati said in a press conference after a meeting with parliament speaker Nabih Berri.
He also stressed that Lebanon accepts everything mentioned in the statement issued by the United States and several European and Arab countries calling for a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel.
https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/532714.aspx
… as have the 10,000+ UN ‘blue helmet’ peace-keeping force.
It’s hard to see how Israel believes it is advancing its own security here. America would be very foolish to back Israel’s aggression here.
qwertboi – Surely if Lebanon commits to the full implementation of UN Resolution 1701 then Israel will have achieved at least one of their objectives
SteveH ” Surely if Lebanon commits to the full implementation of UN Resolution 1701 then Israel will have achieved at least one of their objectives?”
UNSCR 1701 WAS a resolution that called for a ceasefire during a previous Israel attack on Lebanon in 2006. Nothing more. The Acting PM of Lebanon is merely alluding to the 2006 ceasefire which ended the war, saying upon a 2024 ceasefire, the Lebanese Army will return to the area south of the Litani River where in 2024 unfettered Israeli aggression is causing death and destruction “to carry out its full duties”.
I don’t see how that would achieve any stated ‘objective’ of Israel. What am I missing?
qwertboi – “The resolution calls for a full cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon to be replaced by Lebanese and UNIFIL forces deploying to southern Lebanon, and the disarmament of armed groups including Hezbollah, with no armed forces other than UNIFIL and Lebanese military south of the Litani River, which flows about 29 km (18 mi) north of the border. It emphasizes Lebanon’s need to fully exert government control”
SteveH @12.44am precisely, things would. go back to what they were in the very recent past – except Israel’s military aggression goes unpunished and unchecked.. “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Not happening, is it? Hezbollah would probably see a repeat of 2006 and the change in informed-opinion across the world about their tactics to contain a threatening neighbour and undertake genocide on defenceless people in Gaza as a ‘good outcome’. I still can’t see how Israel could present this as its success.
Dear oh dear! Billy.
Still needing to have everything explained to you, Janet and John style.
Here’s a question: How many UN Resolutions have Israel abided by? Or, to put it another way: How many outstanding UN Resolutions has Israel yet to implement?
Just because the Lebanese Government take a position does not mean that Israel is going to follow suite and agree.
You aren’t very good at politics, are you.
Dave – Oh dear, if only we were all as clever as you think you are. 😞
Billy, you’re starting to sound like a broken record.
It is not as if anyone needs a single brain cell to work that out that it takes two to tango.
No wonder you are struggling with the sub-basics when your standards are so low.
Have tried applying for remedial school?
Dave – Oh for goodness sake grow up. 😔
“Dave – Oh dear, is that really the best you could manage? 😞”
Billy – I wondered how long it would take you to use your other one-liner.
It’s just as lame as the other one:
“Oh dear, if only we were all as clever as you think you are. 😞”
Even Arnold Rimmer has a better repartee than this.
Dave – ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Aw, diddums, Billy.
Is it your bedtime already.
Billy, now you are projecting.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/medice%2C%20cura%20te%20ipsum
Dave – Oh dear, is that really the best you could manage? 😞
Just a few days ago DeClassified published an informative article on the UK’s proscribing Hezbollah as a terrorist state.
How the Israel lobby got Hezbollah banned in Britain
https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-the-israel-lobby-got-hezbollah-banned-in-britain/
Thanks SteveH. Appreciate you making me aware of this.
My hero, Albert Einstein, foresaw all of this in his in his groundbreaking article “Why Socialism”.
Predatory economic. and territorial competition, selfishness over community cooperation, the control of mass media by private capitalists making it difficult for citizens to arrive at objective conclusions, etc., etc..
As Einstein posited, socialism, with its emphasis on collective well-being and equitable distribution of resources, offers a more humane and ethical approach to organising society. This philosophical perspective reflects Einstein’s broader concerns about the moral direction of humanity and the need for systems that promote peace, equity, and cooperation, or Peace and Justice.
Israel is trying to force Iran into war – it must be stopped.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/editorial-israel-trying-force-iran-war-it-must-be-stopped
A sad reminder that trade unions are not always a force for good.
The GMB supports nuclear weapons that threaten the very survival of life on earth. It also supports increases in the military budget which will come at the cost of services that ordinary people use and will help fuel conflicts around the globe. It has also supported fracking which represents a big threat to the environment and clampdowns on the right to protest.