This response from Thangam Debbonaire is in response to this letter that I sent her on 21 October 2023, asking her to sign a motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Her response came on 7th November, but due to personal commitments it has taken me until now to respond.
Thangam's email:
Dear GeorgeThank you for your email and for sharing your thoughts about the horrific situation in Gaza and also for telling me about your campaigning. I appreciate you coming directly to me with your concerns. I share your desperate desire for an end to the conflict, which cannot come a moment too soon.
I have set out some thoughts here on the crisis, and in particular on what we in the UK can and should be doing to alleviate the suffering in Gaza and chart a path to peace.
You may have already seen Keir Starmer’s speech last week setting out his position in detail and the rationale behind it—again, focusing on finding a viable path to peace. Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s article this weekend calls on Israel in strong terms to end siege conditions and respect international law, as well as reiterating Labour’s commitment to work towards a two-state solution.
As a member of the Shadow Cabinet I do not sign EDMs (these almost never result in a debate) as I am able to work directly with my Shadow Cabinet colleagues to engage the government on their response to the crisis, and engage with the Labour leadership on our position as this crisis continues to evolve. I will certainly keep your points in mind as I do so.
Thank you again for taking the time to share your views,
Yours,
Thangam
My reply:
Dear Thangam,
Thank you for your response. I will start with an apology for the fact that it's taken me so long to respond myself. I've been tied up with moving house over the last couple of weeks (more on that in my final paragraph) and I haven't had the spare time.
I don't wish to be rude, but frankly, what you've said is simply not good enough. I'm going to start with what you said about not signing EDMs because you're a member of the Shadow Cabinet. Firstly, whether an EDM results in a debate is not always really the point - obviously it's great if they do, but in a case such as this, when what is at stake is essentially whether our elected representatives will stand up to genocide, these motions are quite important to demonstrate the values of the people we elect. Even if they can't actually prevent what has been happening and continues to happen in Gaza, merely the signing of something unequivocally condemning it would show me as a citizen that you care and are willing to say so. Furthermore, there is a member of the Shadow Cabinet who has signed (or at least, someone who was a member at the time they signed) - your Labour colleague Imran Hussain, the MP for Bradford East who until earlier this month was Shadow Minister for the New Deal for Working People. Earlier this month, Imran resigned from the Shadow Cabinet in protest over Labour's current position on the Gaza ceasefire, saying, and I quote, 'It has become clear that my view on the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza differs substantially from the position [Keir Starmer] ha[s]adopted. I believe the party needs to go further and call for a ceasefire.'
If this is not your position, why is it not your position? I've read your comments on the link you sent, and I am not impressed at all. Keir Starmer is not finding a viable path to peace. Hamas may be awful, but support for extremism in every country in the world (including in ours) tends to come as a result of people rightly, rationally and intelligently being very unhappy in their circumstances. Palestinians are right to be unhappy with the circumstances they are in, and have been kept in, increasingly so, since 1967. The Labour Party's position has not been to recognise these circumstances for what they are. It will not criticise the Government of Israel in its own right. The closest it ever comes is to say that the elected leaders in both Israel and Palestine are bad - which I'll acknowledge is technically true, however the power that Likud and Israel hold is not in any way equivalent to the power that Palestine and Hamas hold. This has to be acknowledged if we're to have any hope of social justice.
I was told today that the Palestinian death toll has reached 14,532. More than 7,000 people are missing, believed to be trapped under the rubble. More than 4,772 men, more than 3920 women, more than 5,840 children. 205 medical staff, 64 journalists, and 26 out of 35 (74%) of hospitals out of service. The source for these numbers is the Government media office in Gaza - although I'm not sure how often it's updated, so it could be even more than that at the time of writing or by the time you read this. Just look at these figures. Look at them. Every single one of them was a real person, with a family, friends, hope and dreams, and they were murdered as part of a political choice. There is no justification whatsoever for this. Starving civilian populations from food, water and healthcare is against international law, something that Keir Starmer has failed to acknowledge when challenged - in spite of the fact that he's a former human rights lawyer. Of course, every innocent Israeli who has been killed in the crossfire was a life that had value as well just as equal to that of a Palestinian life. Qualitatively they are equal, but quantitatively they are not. There have been so many more Palestinians killed than there have Israelis. This is a glaring elephant in the room.
The prospect of a two-state solution being agreed amicably is dead in the water. You know that, and I know that. If it was going to happen, it would have happened by now. I've been campaigning on this issue for nearly ten years, and we aren't any closer to it happening than we were then - in fact, we're further away from it. Israel will not stop attacking the Gaza Strip unless they are made to by the international community. Benjamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying this year that Israel should crush any hope of Palestinian statehood. I very strongly recommend you read this interview with Yousef Munayyer, a Palestinian citizen of Israel who leads the Palestine/Israel Program at the Arab Center Washington, DC - it spells out very clearly what the situation is, what it isn't, and what it could be.
I have one more thing to say, which is that in some ways this email is a goodbye message as well. As I said at the beginning, I moved house last week. I am now no longer your constituent, and as a result this will most likely be the last interaction we have. I will miss Bristol West very much. In the interests of being polite and civil, I should say that I wish you all the best in the rest of your career. But I will also say that knowing Bristol West as I do, I'm not sure it will be an easy journey for you. I've been heartened to see how many people have come out in support of Palestine, and I think a lot of people will likely be just as upset by your position as I am. I voted for you in 2019, in part because of Labour's position on the Palestine situation. I have been horrified to see how starkly that has changed, and how you individually as an MP have gone along with that. The truth is that I deeply regret voting for you. I don't think you're a bad human being, and I believe that people who are wrong can change their ways. I genuinely hope that at some point you will see quite the level of harm you are endorsing by taking the line that you have done - hopefully before it's too late.
All the best,
George Harold Millman
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