DIVISIONS within Labour are continuing to grow over the party's stance on a ceasefire in Gaza, with Scotland’s newest MP backing Sir Keir Starmer’s position over Anas Sarwar.
Michael Shanks said he backed the UK Labour leader’s call for a “humanitarian pause” rather than a ceasefire supported by the Scottish Labour leader.
Meanwhile Labour shadow foreign minister Fabian Hamilton, the MP for Leeds North East, who is Jewish, has said that now is the “right time to call for a ceasefire”.
Starmer is facing a battle to maintain Labour discipline with members of his frontbench in open revolt about his stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
He has resisted pressure from within his own party to call for a ceasefire, instead urging both parties in the conflict to agree to a humanitarian pause to allow aid in and people out of the war zone.
Sarwar has criticised the Labour UK leader, claiming he had made “hurtful” comments about the conflict and there was “repair work to do” to mend bridges with Muslim communities.
However the Daily Record reported Shanks, who won the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election last month, has backed his Westminster leader.
Underneath a video of Starmer’s speech this week, he wrote: “In a conflict this complex there are no easy solutions. We all want an end to hostilities and long term peace for Israel and Palestine. Today Keir set out a clear path to achieving that.”
Asked about what would happen at the end of a “humanitarian pause“ and whether innocent people would continue to bear the brunt of military action, he responded: “Appreciate the q and agree that the Palestinian people are not Hamas and don’t deserve to suffer for Hamas’ barbarity.
"I see a humanitarian pause as a means of getting emergency aid to those in Gaza who need it. It won’t end the conflict but it will save lives.
“Your q though is my concern with a ceasefire - if only one side abides by it in what way is it a cessation of hostilities? And even if they did, as Keir outlined it only freezes the conflict as is. A lasting peace is possible but not while Hamas holds hostages and fires rockets.”
Meanwhile in a statement posted today on X, formerly known as Twitter, Labour MP Hamilton said he is a “proud and historic supporter of the Israeli state, alongside a sovereign Palestinian state”.
But he said the media coverage of children dying and “millions being displaced” by Israeli forces was damaging the country’s reputation across the world and said the conflict must be brought to an end so a “meaningful peace process” can restart for a two state solution.
“We all agree that Palestinian civilians are not Hamas,” he said.
“Hamas deliberately imperils Palestinian civilians in order to protect its warped ideology, whilst continuing to fire rockets indiscriminately at Israeli civilians.
“However, the continued bombing of civilian targets in Gaza fails to make that distinction and raises serious questions about adherence to international law. It also puts the lives of Israeli hostages at risk.”
