コロラド対ジョージア工科大学
Ed Miliband starts Commons statement on settlements trade ban by saying he’s ‘proud British Jew’
Ed Miliband starts his statement on the illegal settlements trade ban by saying how proud he is to be Jewish.
He says:
I would like to make a statement on Israel and Palestine. I do so as a proud British Jew, someone with the deepest gratitude to the State of Israel for giving a home to my grandmother after she lost her husband, my grandfather, and 60 other family members with the hands of the Nazis.
I remember visiting her in the 1970s in Tel Aviv and seeing the life and sanctuary Israel had provided. Indeed, some of my most joyful childhood memories were picking oranges as a kid on the kibbutz where my cousins lived.
My personal story, and that of thousands of British Jews, is one of the many reasons why I say to anyone here or around the world who questions Israel’s right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people, you are wrong, and we will call you out whenever you engage in this attempt at the erasure of Israel.
Key events
Miliband says security cooperation with Israel will continue.
Tackling these threats [from Iran] is just one of the most one of the important shared national security interests we have with Israel, on which we will continue to cooperate.
Miliband condemns Iran as threat to ‘Israel and Jews across the world’
Miliband goes on to condemn the 7 October “Hamas terrorist atrocity”.
It was a murderous act by a murderous terrorist organisation designed to massacre and instil fear across the whole population.
October 7 makes plain the grave threats the Israel faces, and it has every right to defend itself. We should not only condemn those threats, but act against those who carry them out.
Miliband says Iran “continues to threaten Israel and Jews across the world”. He goes on:
We have already designated Iran’s IRGC, and we will do more today on Iran’s proxy groups. So today I can also announce we are sanctioning Lebanese Hezbollah’s financing arm, al-Jihad al-Hassan.
Iran must never have a nuclear weapon. So we are also acting this week to report Iran to the UN security council for its nuclear violations alongside our allies.
And I can announce today that we are also reimposing major economic sanctions on Iran, in line with the European Union and the United States.
Ed Miliband starts Commons statement on settlements trade ban by saying he’s ‘proud British Jew’
Ed Miliband starts his statement on the illegal settlements trade ban by saying how proud he is to be Jewish.
He says:
I would like to make a statement on Israel and Palestine. I do so as a proud British Jew, someone with the deepest gratitude to the State of Israel for giving a home to my grandmother after she lost her husband, my grandfather, and 60 other family members with the hands of the Nazis.
I remember visiting her in the 1970s in Tel Aviv and seeing the life and sanctuary Israel had provided. Indeed, some of my most joyful childhood memories were picking oranges as a kid on the kibbutz where my cousins lived.
My personal story, and that of thousands of British Jews, is one of the many reasons why I say to anyone here or around the world who questions Israel’s right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people, you are wrong, and we will call you out whenever you engage in this attempt at the erasure of Israel.
In the Commons the urgent question on the Falkland Islands has just finished. The main takeaway is that MPs on all sides are almost just as determined to ensure that the Falklands stay British as they were in 1982.
Ed Miliband is now starting the statement on Israel.
Camden Green councillors insist they back challenge to Polanski being byelection candidate just so party can have debate
Peter Walker
Peter Walker is a senior Guardian political correspondent.
An apparent move against Zack Polanski becoming the Green candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection by local activists is not quite as it seems, the Guardian has been told.
On Monday, Hamza Chowdhury, a Green representative on Camden council in north London, released a statement saying he would seek the nomination and calling Polanski “a politician you’ll only see on a leaflet”.
Chowdhury said he was nominated by six Camden colleagues, including the Green group leader, Lorna Russell, meaning seven of the ten Greens on the council seemingly did not back their party leader.
But we have since been told that while the six councillors did nominate Chowdhury, they did so simply to generate a proper contest and all back Polanski.
Russell said in a statement:
Democracy works best when members have a genuine choice when they cast their vote. Widening the ballot and giving more voices the opportunity to be heard is healthy for democracy and gives members the opportunity to make an informed choice about who they want to represent them.
Polanski feels certain to be chosen for the 8 October contest – barring a twist as happened with Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn only made the ballot of Labour members in the 2015 leadership contest when some MPs nominated him without supporting him, to widen the choice on the ballot – only for him to win.
Badenoch claims Labour’s plan to ban trade with illegal West Bank settlements driven by antisemitism
Kemi Badenoch has written an uncompromising attack on the government’s decision to ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank. It is in the Jewish Chronicle and – echoing the argument made by Mike Huckabee (see 9.52am), but with slightly less inflammatory language – she accuses Labour of being antisemitic.
Here are some of her arguments.
For any observer of British politics, the normalisation of antisemitism has been one of the most disturbing trends in recent years. Gone are the days when antisemitism was pushed underground or confined to only the extremist fringes of our national debate …
For years, Labour has insisted that the party has changed since Jeremy Corbyn. They tell Britain’s Jewish community that the poison which flourished under his leadership has been confronted. They hold meetings, issue statements, and promise that antisemitism will never again be tolerated.
Yet their actions tell a different story.
What has been revealed this week beyond any doubt is that while Corbyn may have lost the Labour leadership, he very much did win the argument inside the party.
For all Labour claim to have rooted out antisemitism internally, the degree of anti-Israel hatred means that Labour’s approach to many of these issues is Corbyn in all but name.
Corbyn strongly denies being antisemitic, insisting that criticism of Israel is not the same as antisemitism, and Keir Starmer and Burnham have also condemned antisemitism very strongly.
Labour’s obsession with Israel is rooted in UK politics. It’s got less to do with peace in the Middle East, and more to do with trying to keep the peace in the Labour party.
Any decision to ban trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank will become a de facto boycott on Israel given the difficulty any British business will face separating “legitimate” and “illegitimate” activities. It will inflame protests and violence against businesses that trade with Israel.
This matters because antisemitism does not exist in a vacuum.
The government itself has acknowledged that hatred of Israel has been at the heart of some of the antisemitism we have witnessed since October 7. Ministers therefore cannot simultaneously recognise that connection and behave as though the relentless demonisation and singling out of Israel has no effect on the atmosphere in Britain.
Iranian-directed activity has threatened people on British soil. Israel confronts the same networks and the same ideology that threaten us. British citizens are alive today thanks to Israeli intelligence.
Picking unnecessary fights with a country that helps us combat terrorism is an act of national self-harm.
In her article Badenoch said nothing about the Israeli government’s settlement policy, and nothing about any of the criticisms made of how Israel treats Palestinians. And she said nothing about the impact of illegal settlements on the two-state solution. In fact, she said nothing critical of Israel at all – although at one point she said “no democratic government should be beyond criticism, and Conservatives have disagreed with Israeli governments before.”
Florida will boycott any country boycotting Israel, US congressman says
In his interview with the Today programme, Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, said that Florida has a law that says it won’t trade with companies that boycott Israel. (See 8.39am.)
In a post on social media, Randy Fine, the US Republican congressman, says he passed the law when he sat in the Florida legislature. He explains how it works.
As the British government considers forcing British companies to boycott portions of Israel, it should be aware that a Florida law that I passed as a member of the Legislature would ban any British company forced to comply from doing business with any state or local government in Florida.
It would also end any British business participating in that boycott from doing any business in Florida if it needed any official interaction with state or local government to operate (permits, tax collection).
Florida is one of Britain’s largest trading partners. They should understand that their vanity project in support of Muslim terror could cost them billions of dollars.
And for those who doubt the power of this policy, it was this same law that broke Airbnb’s misguided effort to boycott portions of Israel in 2019. They realized that this law would have bankrupted their company. Florida has made it clear.
Any company — or nation — that boycotts Israel is boycotted by Florida.
International Pisa education ratings show disadvantaged students in England outperforming European peers
Richard Adams
Richard Adams is the Guardian’s education editor.
The OECD’s triennial programme for international student assessment (Pisa) comes as a controversial intervention in England’s policy debate about schools and what they should teach.
The Pisa 2025 rankings published today show England’s teenagers doing as well as ever in traditional subjects, and well above average, at a time when international test results in reading and maths have declined. But the policy mood within England’s government is that schools are too academic for those who struggle in exams such as GCSEs.
Lucy Powell, education secretary for England, said in an interview with the Observer that while she applauded the Pisa results, she wanted to “replace the exam factory with the talent factory” and argued that “the gap between the classroom and that new world of work is just too big”.
But the Pisa results – based on tests and surveys of 15-year-olds – showed that disadvantaged students in England outperform students in other European countries.
Andreas Schleicher, the OECD’s director for education and skills, said:
Today we can see that the most disadvantaged students in the UK are doing better than their counterparts in Germany, for example.
Prof Becky Francis, who headed the government’s curriculum review in England published late last year, said:
Today’s Pisa scores tell a positive story about our school system and the hard work of teachers and school leaders. While the global decline in reading scores is deeply concerning, the UK is bucking the international trend, with England performing particularly strongly.
England is the only UK nation where performance across all three subjects has held up since 2015. That suggests there are important things our education system is getting right.
And here are two more Guardian graphics illustrating what has been happening in the West Bank.
This one shows property demolitions. The Israelis regularly demolish Palestinian homes, which is one way their grip on the territory is being extended.
And this one shows the number of Palestinian civilians killed in the West Bank year on year.
The Commons authorities have confirmed that there will be an urgent question on the Falkland Islands at 12.30pm. After that, starting at about 1.15pm, there will be two statements: Ed Miliband on illegal settlements in the West Bank, and then Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, on social media restrictions.
Here are two Guardian graphics about the West Bank.
This one shows where settlements are.
And this one shows which areas are fully or partially controlled by Israel, and which are controlled by the Palestinian Authority.
Anti-Israel moves by government could increase risk of antisemitic attacks in UK, terror laws reviewer warns
In an interview on BBC’s Newsnight last night, Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said he was worried banning trade with the illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank could lead to more antisemitic attacks in the UK. He said:
I think there is a risk that if you stir the pot by making Israel a pariah state, then that will bring that flame up again, which we saw.
Remember, it was only a year ago that there was the attack at Heaton Park. And I’ve been very worried about delegitimising anyone who’s Israeli, certainly, and Jews, many of whom support Israel, and painting a bit of a target on the back.
Now, I’m sure the government will be very careful, I hope they will be, in the way in which they describe this, but that is a concern.
