KEIR Starmer has been called out for failing to acknowledge the genocide in Gaza during his speech to the Labour party conference.
During an hour-long speech, the Prime Minister only briefly mentioned Gaza – by welcoming the latest US-backed plan for peace in the region.
However, he did not acknowledge calls from the Labour membership on Monday for the Prime Minister to accept “the findings of the UN Commission of Inquiry that Israel is committing a genocide”.
A motion, moved by the Unison trade union group, also called “on the British Government to take urgent action” against Israel, including “a full arms embargo”.
The SNP also criticised Starmer for failing to mention the two-child cap during his address to members.
Speaking in Liverpool, Starmer said: “I welcome the new US initiative to bring peace to the Middle East.
“I strongly support efforts to end the fighting, release every hostage and urgently scale up aid into Gaza.
“All sides must now come together to bring this initiative into reality, because we must restart the hope of a two-state solution, a safe and secure Israel alongside the long-promised Palestinian state, a state that this country now recognises.”
US president Donald Trump unveiled a 20-point plan which includes an immediate ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces to “the agreed upon line”, and the release of all the hostages, followed by the release of Palestinian prisoners and a surge of aid into Gaza.
Gaza will then be temporarily governed by a transitional committee of qualified Palestinian and international experts, with oversight from a new international transitional body, referred to as the “Board of Peace”.
The “Board of Peace” will be chaired by Trump, working alongside other international leaders, including former UK prime minister Tony Blair.
However, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, in a message to Your Party members and supporters following the speech, seen by The National, said: “The Prime Minister could have announced he was finally scrapping the two-child-benefit cap, bringing in rent controls, and taking our public services back into public ownership.
“Instead, he doubled down on the same tired formula of buzzwords and catchphrases. “He couldn’t even bring himself to acknowledge the genocide in Gaza.
“We know why: if he acknowledged the truth, he would be admitting his government’s complicity in the greatest crime of our time.”
We previously told how the UK Government ruled that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza – contradicting a mounting body of international experts who say otherwise.
Just two weeks later, a United Nations Commission investigation found that four of the five requirements for an offensive to be considered genocide have been met.
Meanwhile, the SNP claimed that Labour “relentlessly briefed” that Starmer would announce the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap during his speech.
SNP MP Kirsty Blackman, who is currently pressing legislation to end the two-child cap in the House of Commons, said: “In a desperate bid to stave off a leadership challenge, the Labour Party were telling everyone and anyone that the two-child cap would be ended by Keir Starmer at conference – instead it appears it’s been axed from the Prime Minister’s speech telling voters all they need to know about the Labour Party, their internal squabbling and its priorities.
“We always knew the proof would be in the pudding, but it seems this cynical move was just the Labour Party playing politics with poverty in a desperate last throw of the dice to save Keir Starmer’s skin.”
Blackman said ending the two-child cap is the “bare minimum” that should be expected from a Government that “claims to be serious about ending child poverty”.
“Rather than following the example of John Swinney, the Labour Party has shown us their true colours,” she added.
“We know independent analysis shows that if the UK government matched SNP action across the UK, it could lift 2.3 million families out of poverty overnight, including a further 96,000 in Scotland – their failure to do so makes it even more clear in the minds of Scots that broken, Brexit Britain is far beyond repair and that independence offers us the fresh start we need to create a wealthier and fairer country.”
