UK Celebrities Urge Starmer to Recognise Gaza Genocide Amid Labour Conference Motions

A coalition of celebrities, including Steve Coogan, Paloma Faith, and Maxine Peake, have released a video urging UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to acknowledge Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide and to halt UK arms sales to Israel. The video, launched by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) ahead of the Labour Party conference, calls for immediate sanctions and highlights organizations like Amnesty International and the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry that have identified Israel's conduct as genocidal. Despite these claims, the UK government and Starmer have refrained from using the term genocide, citing assessments that Israel has not acted with intent to destroy a group, a position criticized by the PSC and some Labour members as evading legal obligations under the Genocide Convention. The Labour Party conference has seen several emergency motions demanding recognition of the genocide and calls for sanctions, reflecting ongoing strong sentiment within the party and affiliated trade unions. The PSC plans a major demonstration in Liverpool coinciding with the conference to press these demands. Critics argue that the refusal to recognize the situation as genocide represents a significant moral and political failure, while Israel's foreign ministry has rejected the UN's accusations as based on falsehoods.