Sheffield Labour Palestine supporters condemn “provocative and divisive” decision to fly Israeli flag at Town Hall

The flag was taken down and replaced with a Palestine flag by protesters who climbed up the Town Hall during a demonstration last Tuesday (October 10), an act that has been seen by people around the world as it was extensively reported on and video footage shared on social media platforms.

Hundreds took to the streets to condemn the actions of Israel to put Gaza under a “complete siege”, cutting off food , power and water, in retaliation to attacks last weekend by militant group Hamas on military targets and settlements.

Following nightly airstrikes by Israel, the death toll in Gaza now stands at 2,450 and there have been 9,200 wounded, the Gaza Ministry of Health said today (Monday). Israel has also ordered people to leave southern Gaza ahead of an expected ground invasion.

The death toll in Israel is reported to be 1,400 and the number of injured is 3,000.

The Labour friends group said as part of a statement: “We condemn council leader Tom Hunt’s decision to fly the Israeli flag above Sheffield Town Hall as provocative and divisive. The Israeli state has been defined as an apartheid state by a huge body of international legal opinion and this will not be an act by which the city will wish to be remembered.

“The decision by other authorities to fly a peace flag was a much more appropriate way of showing sympathy for all the innocent victims of this violent conflict.”

Coun Hunt said in response to the flag incident: “Everyone has the right to safe and peaceful protest but we cannot support the events that took place during the protest outside Sheffield’s Town Hall. Protesters put themselves and others in serious danger.

“There are strong feelings about the situation in Israel and Palestine but we ask everyone to show respect and tolerance at this time. Our thoughts are with all those affected, including here in the UK.”

The decision to fly the Israel flag was criticised by the Green Party group on the city council.

A large protest rally with the slogans “Justice for the Palestinians” and “stop apartheid Israel from destroying Gaza” took place on Saturday, October 14, outside the City Hall.

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This is the full Labour Friends of Palestine statement:

“No violent deaths of unarmed civilians are ever OK.

All human lives should be equally valued and respected.

However, Palestinians live under illegal Israeli occupation and separate, military law.

Israel has for decades flouted international law regarding its responsibilities with complete impunity and has pursued policies of ethnic cleansing, annexation and apartheid. The Gaza Strip has been living under blockade since 2007 and suffers from every kind of extreme deprivation.

Unarmed Israeli civilians were subject to violent attack by Hamas gunmen onSaturday morning and it is likely that war crimes were committed, which should be subject to independent international investigation. We extend our sympathy to all those personally affected.

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We have international law to deal with violations of this nature. Instead, the Israeli government has embarked on a campaign of collective punishment, bombing the densely-populated strip on an unprecedented scale, causing thousands of deaths and casualties, destroying essential infrastructure and internally displacing well over a quarter of a million people.

Now 1.1 million Gazans have been instructed they must evacuate the northern area, which the Israelis know is impossible. In addition, defence minister Yoav Gallant announced that Israel, which controls everything going in and out of Gaza, would cut off supplies of water, food and power. These are exactly the acts by Russia which EU Commissioner Ursula Von der Leyen describedas “war crimes” and “acts of pure terror” one year ago.

Collective punishment is a war crime under international law. Gallant further spoke of fighting “human animals”, racist hate speech of the kind which has historically preceded genocide.

We therefore condemn the entirely selective way in which humanitarian outrage has been expressed by most of our politicians and amplified in the mainstream media.

The deaths, sometimes of entire families, and prolonged suffering of innocentGazans including hundreds of children, have too often gone entirely unremarked while political leaders give Israel carte blanche to carry out violent disproportionate retribution.

We are particularly shocked and appalled that Sir Keir Starmer on LBC Radioendorsed Yoav Gallant’s policies which constitute war crimes and are potentially genocidal. He should retract immediately, apologise to the Palestinians and meet urgently with the Labour Muslim Network who have put out a statement to this effect.

On the other hand, we welcome statements from the Labour backbenchers who are speaking up for the protection of Palestinian civilians and calling for restraint.

We extend our solidarity to our comrade Lubaba Khalid, a Palestinian woman, who has announced her resignation as Young Labour BAME officer in the wake of the statements in support of collective punishment of Palestinians by Labour leadership.

Despite her anxieties for her family in Gaza she has received no support from the party.

We condemn council leader Tom Hunt’s decision to fly the Israeli flag aboveSheffield Town Hall as provocative and divisive. The Israeli state has been defined as an apartheid state by a huge body of international legal opinion and this will not be an act by which the city will wish to be remembered.

The decision by other authorities to fly a peace flag was a much more appropriate way of showing sympathy for all the innocent victims of this violent conflict.”