Tameside MPs abstain on Gaza ceasefire vote.

 

Both Jonathan Reynolds and Andrew Gwynne have connections with Labour Friends of Israel (LFI). Gwynne is a former Chairman of LFI and Reynolds is a vice chairman of LFI.

In 2018, Reynolds and Gwynne were criticised for visiting Israel as part of a delegation, at a time, when over sixty Palestinian demonstrators had been shot dead in Gaza and thousands seriously wounded. The visit or jolly, had been organised and paid for by LFI.

Angela Rayner is a supporter of Labour Friends of Palestine & the Middle East and so is the former Trotskyist, Sir Keir Starmer-oid, who is also a supporter of LFI. As the leader of Labour Party, Starmer-oid has said publicly, "I support Zionism without qualification." He's also said that Israel 'has the right' to withhold power and water from Gaza, which some regard as a war crime. With friends like Starmer-oid who needs enemies.

At a Chanukah event in 2018, Angela Rayner, expressed regret and apologised for quoting from the book 'The Holocaust Industry' by the anti-Zionist, Norman Finkelstein, who claims that the U.S. Jewish establishment exploits the memory of the Holocaust for political and financial gain. In a Facebook post, Rayner wrote:

"As Norman G Finkelstein writes in his seminal book The Holocaust Industry it is important to fight for and preserve the integrity of the historical record."

The Board of Deputies of British Jews had faced calls to disinvite Rayner from the Chanukah event because she had cited Finkelstein. Ivor Caplin, chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement, called on Rayner to 'apologise immediately' adding, "There is nothing seminal about accusing the Jewish community of collectively abusing the memory of the Holocaust." Angela Rayner said the quote had been taken out of context and that she'd been reflecting on her visit to Auschwitz and how important it was to remember the Holocaust and to continually challenge and confront antisemitism.

Last November, all three Tameside MPs, abstained in a House of Commons vote calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. On Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ordered Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide but stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire. It also called on Israel to improve the humanitarian situation for Palestinian civilians and to ensure that its troops commit no genocidal acts in Gaza. Israeli officials responded by accusing the ICJ of anti-Semitic bias.