It appears the location of Labour’s birthday party in Gaza matters to its votes in the United Kingdom election

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Despite Labour’s landslide victory in the United Kingdom general election, the party lost a number of seats due to the strong performance of individual pro-Palestinian candidates, indicating resentment against Keir Starmer over Labour’s position on Israel’s war in Gaza. Was.

Five different candidates who have been vocal in their support for Gaza won parliamentary seats, with an increase in votes for independent candidates in various places on this occasion denying Labor victories in areas it should have. The victory was expected, although they escaped with a small dent in their split majority. Questions are being raised on his foreign policy position.

In Leicester South, a seat in a commercial city in the English Midlands, Labor silhouette cabinet member Jonathan Ashworth lost his seat by 979 votes to Shawkat Adam, a different candidate who made his support for Gaza a part of his electoral pact. Made an important part. To the citizens.

“This is for Gaza,” Adam announced in his triumphant accent.

Ashworth’s loss has come as a major injury. In the subsequent general election, when Labor suffered its worst defeat since 1935 under Jeremy Corbyn, Ashworth still won the seat with a landslide, receiving 67% of the vote.

In Islington North, Corbyn was re-elected to the seat he has held since 1983 – although this was as a separate seat rather than for Labour. Corbyn, who was Labor leader between 2015 and 2020, was expelled from the party after the United Kingdom’s human rights watchdog found Labor responsible for “unlawful” acts of harassment and discrimination under his leadership, amid allegations of anti-Semitism. Lawsuits increased.

Corbyn received 49.2% of the vote, while the Labor candidate came second with 34.4%. Corbyn noted that the citizens of Islington North are “looking for a government that will seek peace, not war, on the world stage, and will not allow the terrible conditions currently occurring in Gaza to continue.” ”

In Blackburn, Labor incumbent Kate Hollern – who won a majority of 18,304 in the 2019 general election – lost to independent candidate Adnan Hussain by just 132 votes.

In Dewsbury and Batley, incumbent Iqbal Mohammed also defeated the incumbent Labor Party candidate Heather Iqbal.

And in Birmingham, Perry Barr, isolated Ayub Khan defeated the Labor Party’s incumbent candidate, Khalid Mahmood, by 507 votes.

Meanwhile, in Chingford and Woodford Green, a constituency in east London, the left-wing vote was split between Labor and Faiza Shaheen – a candidate who stood as a separate candidate, who was pushed out by Labor during the campaign. Was – Conservative incumbent Iain Duncan Smith was allowed to retain his seat by almost 5,000 votes.

“Our vote was a combination of people who were shocked by my treatment, people who took issue with an imposed candidate who didn’t know us, people who would never vote Labor after Starmer’s stance on Gaza. Were not going to vote, and those who never voted voted first,” Shaheen wrote on X ahead of the results. “As soon as Labor deselected me, the vote was split.”

Labor feared it would lose the vote on Gaza as Starmer received complaints in some quarters over comments he made shortly after Hamas announced the 7 October attack on Israel and Israel’s next attack on Gaza.

Speaking with UK radio station LBC in October, Starmer – a former human rights lawyer – noted that Israel has a “right” to wrest energy and water from Palestinian civilians in Gaza, although she added: “Obviously, all Something must be done under international law.”

The remarks sparked outrage among many leftist and Muslim citizens, with several Labor Members of Parliament (MPs) protesting outside their constituency offices and harassment cases being filed.

Anger grew further when the party refused to support a Scottish National Party (SNP) movement demanding an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Gaza. However, after some time labor again established its own identity.

Many of the seats where the Labor Party got more votes than its seat in Gaza have a large Muslim population. According to the 2021 census, the population of Leicester, Birmingham, Ilford and Blackburn is more than 20% Muslim.

Wes Streeting, Labour’s silhouette secretary of state, I’m ready to play for a post in the post-Starmer executive, held on to his seat in Ilford North, with just 528 votes, ahead of isolated candidate Leanne Mohammed in second place. are.

Speaking about the constituency ahead of the election, CNN told Mohammed that she was knocking on doors to ask for votes. He noted, when Streeting abstained from voting on the Gaza ceasefire, she decided to go into politics and resign from Labour.

“As a Palestinian, that place is no longer for me… The Labor Party does not represent us,” she told CNN. “My family was expelled and expelled from Palestine in 1948. My grandparents never thought they would see anything worse than this.”

“They just wanted their politicians to vote for a ceasefire. No to murder, no to more violence. And no bombs, and they couldn’t even bring themselves to do it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jess Phillips, also a prominent Labor figure, won her Birmingham Yardley seat by just 693 votes. His nearest rival, Jody McIntyre, stood not as a separate party but in favor of the British Labor Party, an outside party that “makes no apologies for our support for Palestine and the people of Gaza. ”

As his victory pronouncement was met with riotous noise and chants of “shame” and “Free Palestine”, a clearly angry Phillips described the harassment he and his team had faced during the campaign.

“This election has been the worst election I have ever stood in. Today, a brilliant community activist who organizes events for every single part of our community came out to campaign with me, and people took to the streets But they filmed him and then killed him in a tire,” Phillips said.

Phillips nominated in November by voting for the SNP movement calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, but she, like many female applicants, has faced abuse, she said.

Phillips then told ITV, “Women have fared significantly worse in terms of threat and aggression in this election campaign than any of the men in our city.”