How Gaza is affecting the British election

On The Electronic Intifada livestream yesterday we talked about the UK’s general election. Voting is taking place today, Thursday.

My colleague Omar Karmi interviewed George Galloway, a veteran Palestine solidarity campaigner and now leader of the Workers Party. Galloway describes his party in the interview as a “left-wing populist” party.

Palestine, as well as Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, have together become the key wedge issue in this election.

You can watch the interview and the discussion in the video above.

Despite the fact that right-wing leader Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is widely predicted to win the election by a significant margin, Starmer is also himself very unpopular.

And because of his emphatic support for Israel and its genocide, Starmer is coming under significant challenge from smaller parties like Galloway’s and independent candidates who have run on the issue of Gaza.

In February, Galloway overturned a large Labour majority to win a special election in Rochdale, in England’s northwest. He is expected to win his seat again tonight and his party may even win more seats.

Independents

Jody McIntyre, who contributed to The Electronic Intifada from the occupied West Bank, is running for Galloway’s party in Birmingham, England’s second city.

Several independent candidates who are running against Starmer’s party in key seats across the country have also made Gaza the wedge issue against Labour.

Anti-arms-trade activist and former African National Congress lawmaker Andrew Feinstein (who has been a guest on The Electronic Intifada Podcast) is running against Starmer himself, in North London.

Leanne Mohamad, a young British Palestinian campaigner, is running in east London, challenging Wes Streeting. Streeting is another Labour right-winger and is slated to be Labour’s next health minister if he wins his seat.

He’s also often named as a future Labour leader. A victory for Mohamad would therefore be a huge upset.

And of course, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also now running as an independent against Labour, after he was purged by Starmer.

Polls close tonight at 10 pm UK time, and the overall result should be clear by Friday morning.

Not the Andrew Marr Show is running a live election special all night on their YouTube channel from 9:45 pm UK time on election night.

You might even see me at some point early in the night.