Andy Burnham Apologizes for Labour's Gaza Response, Calls for More Sanctions

The United Kingdom’s likely incoming next prime minister, Andy Burnham, has apologised for the Labour Party’s initial response to Israel’s actions in Gaza, saying “we got it wrong” while calling for further sanctions on those involved in violence in the besieged enclave.

“Many people feel that at the start of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, my party didn’t get it right and I am sorry about that,” Burnham said on Thursday in a video message posted on X.

“The response has not been good enough. We needed to be better”.

Burnham acknowledged that the UK took steps, including recognising the state of Palestine, imposing sanctions on Israeli far-right ministers and imposing waves of restrictions on violent settlers.

“But let’s be honest: The UK was too slow to call for a ceasefire, and we must now do more to strengthen our approach,” he said.

He went on to say that Israel continues to kill Palestinians in attacks in Gaza despite a truce, and settler violence and illegal settlement expansions across occupied Palestinian territory continue to surge.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, more than 1,000 people in Gaza have been killed since a US-brokered “ceasefire” between Israel and the US was agreed in October.

“That is why we need to do more, which includes looking at further sanctions on those involved in the violence in Gaza but also looking at measures to ban trading goods with illegal settlements,” he said, falling short of indicating who should be sanctioned.

He said “we’ve got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government”, but did not accuse Israel of genocide in Gaza, something that some Labour lawmakers have done.

The Labour politician said there was “increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed” but that it was ultimately the role of international law to determine.

He also said that the UK should criticise what is happening in the Gaza Strip while also condemning Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023, and subsequent acts of anti-Semitic violence in Britain.

The Labour Party under Keir Starmer was subject to strong criticism by some of its supporters for what was perceived as too weak a response to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, including resisting demands to call for an immediate ceasefire. That pushed many, especially among young supporters, to move away from the party towards the Green Party.