Chancellor Rachel Reeves and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner were among five cabinet ministers to attend a Labour Party conference fringe event to show solidarity with Israel and the remaining 101 hostages held by Hamas.
Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) on Tuesday evening had one of the most significant and largest turnouts by senior ministers for the entire event, as Palestinian flag-waving protesters remained outside the conference in Liverpool all week.
It was a powerful symbolic gesture for a party where LFI has come under huge criticism from pro-Gaza supporters, and Starmer’s government has been facing demands from party members for a much more anti-Israel response to the crisis.
Labour lost MPs at the election, including frontbencher Jon Ashworth, because of the refusal to back down over support for Israel.
Israeli ambassador Tzipura Hotovely told the LFI event of how she was at home spending much of the day hiding with her family in a shelter on the day of the 7 October Hamas attacks.
She was cheered when she said: “If you believe in peace, you need to support Israel’s right to self defence and Israel’s duty to self defence.”
Ms Hotovely described how 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from their homes because of attacks from Hezbollah.
She added: “For 11 months Israel gave so many chances for diplomatic solutions and we would still like to restore peace. Hezbollah didn’t want the diplomatic solution and it is about time for them to pay the price for all those who have been evacuated for towns destroyed for non-stop fighting since 8 October.”
And she asked: “Can you imagine Liverpool being evacuated for a year? You can’t imagine that. We gave chance to diplomacy.”
She described Hamas as “monsters” who “rejected a hostage deal time after time”, and reminded those present that young children are among those who had been in captivity for 354 days.
Hamas launched a deadly attack from the Gaza Strip into Israel on 7 October, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage, around half of which remain in Gaza.
The subsequent Israeli aerial and ground assault in Gaza has killed more than 41,000 Palestinians, according to the latest update from the local health ministry in the Hamas-run strip, and forced more than 90 per cent of the enclave’s population to flee their homes.
The ambassador’s remarks appeared to be a response to Ms Rayner, who was standing in for Keir Starmer who was flying to the UN in New York.
She opened proceedings with a speech calling for “an immediate ceasefire from all sides” which was met with silence – but was cheered and applauded when she called for the hostages to be brought home “immediately”.
The event also became a celebration of the LFI’s role in helping change the party following the antisemitism row under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.
Ms Reeves, who was vice chair of the LFI for 14 years, said in her speech: “Our party has changed for the last five years and much of it is down to people like you.
“I want to thank all of you for the part you played in changing our party. From the bottom of my heart thank you.
She added “rooting out antisemitism was a non-negotiable” precondition to join Starmer’s frontbench.
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden and science and digital secretary Peter Kyle, both former LFI deputy chairs, were also in attendance alongside business secretary Jonathan Reynolds.
The new LFI chair, newly elected High Peak MP Jon Pearce, made it clear he will be pushing for a crackdown on antisemitism fuelled by hatred of Israel, as well as demanding much firmer action against Iran.
He said: “The threat posed by terror groups in Israel, in Europe and here in the UK won’t be resolved until the threat posed by the Iranian regime is acknowledged and addressed. That is why we must stop by banning Iran’s terror army, the IRGC.
“We must enhance the relations between Britain and Israel because Israel is our only ally in the region which shares our liberal democratic values. We must defend liberal democratic allies against autocrats, extremists and terrorists.
“Let’s not forget the missiles Vladimir Putin is launching against Kyiv are provided by the very same regime that provides weapons to Hezbollah to fire into Galilee. The Moscow Tehran axis is a menace to all of us, who value freedom, peace and democracy.”
The event also heard the harrowing stories of two relatives of elderly hostages still being held by the Hamas terrorist group, but the speeches also included criticism of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to get a hostage deal and peace.
It was noted two of the UK cabinet ministers present had gone to one of the kibutzes where hostages were taken, but Mr Netanyahu has yet to make the journey himself.
Also present was Holocaust survivor Mala Tribich, and two former Labour MPs Louise Ellman and Luciana Berger who left the party during Mr Corbyn’s leadership but returned under Sir Keir.