Labour contender Andy Burnham declines to say Israel has committed genocide in Gaza
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has declined to describe Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide.
Burnham, who is standing to be the MP for Makerfield in the by-election on 18 June and intends to replace Sir Keir Starmer as British prime minister, was asked about foreign policy an interview with the Guardian on Thursday.
According to the news outlet, Burnham declined to say Israel has committed genocide, explaining: "I can’t judge things of that enormity from where I am as mayor of Greater Manchester."
But Burnham added: "I do have concerns about the disproportionate nature of what has happened in terms of the destruction, and there has to be a full process of investigation and accountability."
Israeli forces have killed nearly 73,000 Palestinians since the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 which killed 1,200 people, with a further 170,000 wounded.
Thousands more in Gaza remain missing and are presumed dead beneath the rubble.
Israel has also employed a deliberate policy of starving Palestinians by denying the entry of food, water and medicines, as well as other essentials.
Where Israel has allowed entry, aid has been in insufficient amounts and only after international outrage at the siege.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and leading Israeli human rights groups have declared the actions of Israel in Gaza a genocide, as have numerous global experts on genocide.
Additionally, a UN commission of inquiry found Israel was committing genocide in Gaza last year.
Burnham's comments are markedly milder than those made days earlier by Wes Streeting, who recently resigned as health secretary and has also said he intends to replace Starmer as prime minister.
Streeting has not accused Israel of genocide and has not publicly accused it of war crimes, although it emerged late last year he had privately said Israel was committing war crimes "before our eyes" and that the Israeli government was talking the "language of ethnic cleansing".
This week, while he did not repeat those accusations, he defended having sent a dossier to fellow ministers of graphic images of injured children in Gaza.
Streeting said he was "horrified by the war in Gaza" and that "I did everything I could behind the scenes to get the government to act with the moral urgency the conflict demands.
"That included sharing the eyewitness testimony of doctors on the ground in Gaza, whose accounts needed to be heard at the highest levels of government to ensure that what was happening in Gaza wasn’t a war without witnesses."
'Hitting up against a brick wall'
Streeting heavily criticised Starmer, saying: “I wasn’t by any means the only cabinet minister pushing for action, but we often felt like we were hitting up against a brick wall. Our concerns and motives were dismissed.
"I’ve always supported Israel’s right to defend itself and Palestinians’ right to a state of their own. I’ve met survivors of 7 October and was the first shadow cabinet minister to visit Israel.
"I visited the West Bank a decade ago, I called for sanctions on Israeli settlements when I was a backbencher - this wasn’t some emotional or one-sided reaction; it is what I and other ministers believe."
In documents released earlier this week relating to Peter Mandelson, the disgraced former cabinet minister, Labour peer and ambassador to the US, Mandelson described Streeting's criticisms of Israel as "wild" and "hysterical" and said "I think Wes is experiencing an early midlife crisis".
Whereas Streeting publicly backed the Labour leadership's support for Israel's war on Gaza after 7 October 2023, Burnham as Greater Manchester mayor broke ranks with the leadership by calling for a ceasefire in late October, in tandem with London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar.
Their statement expressed "profound concerns about the loss of thousands of lives in Gaza, the displacement of many more and widespread suffering through the ongoing blockade of essential goods and services".
Burnham was also a prominent voice in publicly urging the Labour government to recognise a Palestinian state before it eventually did so last September.
In his interview on Thursday, Burnham notably defended Starmer over his recent diplomatic spat with US President Donald Trump.
Trump accused Starmer of failing to sufficiently assist the US in its assault with Israel on Iran, although Britain allowed the US to use UK bases to launch attacks on Iranian missile sites.
Burnham said: "Normally you would want a good relationship with the US, but if you can’t agree with them, then say that as well. That’s the only way I think to deal with him [Trump]."
He added: "Obviously, the relationship is important to the UK, but not to the point where we just go along with anything they say.
"We’ve got in trouble in the past when that happens, so no, I think the approach that Keir has taken is the right one."
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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