Palestine increasingly shaping British elections, solidarity campaign says

Palestine has become a domestic electoral issue in Britain for the first time, according to Aimee Shalan, who will become director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in November. Shalan said public anger over Israel’s war in Gaza and the British government’s response was being expressed through elections, workplaces, trade unions and consumer campaigns. She pointed to developments at the 2024 general election and 2026 local elections.

The campaign welcomed Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband’s announcement of sanctions against settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Miliband said the government heard people who had been moved and angered by the plight of Palestinians. Shalan said the policy shift reflected pressure from hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, but argued that it fell short of the movement’s demands for broader sanctions, a two-way arms embargo and an end to British political and diplomatic support for Israel.

She said the PSC’s membership had grown from 7,800 at the beginning of 2023 to nearly 17,000, while newsletter subscribers had increased to about 300,000. The organisation says it and partner groups have held 36 national demonstrations since October 2023. Critics have raised concerns about antisemitism at pro-Palestinian protests and some have called for the PSC to be designated an extremist organisation.

Shalan rejected those descriptions and defended boycott, divestment and sanctions as a peaceful campaigning method. The PSC says more than 100 local branches support its campaigns. It also says 34 councils in England and Wales have backed pension divestment from companies campaigners accuse of complicity in Israel’s actions.