To think that Labour’s/Andy Burnham’s tariffs on Jewish Settlers and their statement on Palestine is a well timed publicity stunt to divert attention from their complete lack of inaction regarding illegal migrants arriving by boat.

[bluespotsandztarz]

I don’t meant to be cynical but I think Labour have done this to carry favour with those who want to ditch Labour for the Green Party. We all know Labour isn’t run by its leader, instead by their back benchers!

What the Settlers are doing on the West Bank is horrific, however Labour were not being so vocal a few weeks ago when the rest of the world was. It feels a ‘well-timed’ publicity stunt to take away attention from their complete inaction about the amount of illegal immigrants arriving in this country. I was appalled by the protests over the weekend. And as a woman with a daughter, these thugs do not protest in my name. However, the government MUST address the fact that we have thousands of undocumented male immigrants coming into the UK free to go wherever they want. Andy Burnham is happy to house them in their thousands wherever he sees fit and I have not heard him OR his government talk about women’s safety once. Burnham can make as many cosy ‘I’m just a man who goes to Greggs and likes a pint.’ Videos as he wants but until he acknowledges how undocumented men pose a great risk to women’s safety, I won’t be supporting him or his party.

Please do not come up with facts and stats about white British males, I am acutely aware of the violence they also inflict against women and equally appalled by the Government’s inaction over this. But I find it horrific that if you have no documents and the government have no idea who you are you’re free to roam. This should not be allowed.

I feel so ignored as a woman in the UK our safety and wellbeing is way down the governments’ long list of priorities. I’m sick of the back benchers and those swaying to the far left or far right being given so much air time, whilst those of us in the middle are ignored day in and day out I voted for Labour in the last election but never again!

In response to your comment on Labours “…complete lack of inaction regarding illegal migrants arriving by boat…”.

Boat crossings are down to their lowest level since 2020. Labour (Kier Starmer to be clear) has done this by collaboration with our European neighbours on two new initiatives.

First, a deal with the French to increase beach patrols by 40% which has intercepted and prevented hundreds of boat crossings.

Second, a deal with the Germans to crack down on warehouses in W Germany where smuggling gangs store dinghies prior to crossings, which has confiscated hundreds of dinghies.

The result has been thousands fewer arrivals than there would otherwise have been.

If MN right wingers spent a bit more time reading actual news rather than social media propaganda they’d be better informed.

They're getting desperate.

He is taking action on all sorts of things. He is very aware he only has half a term to make the impact Labour needed to show from this Government. The situation in Gaza where Netanyahu thinks he is above international law is intolerable. Not a stunt at all.

@zonderYou said the far right have hijacked the issue of migrant small-boat crossings, but I’d argue the far left have similarly hijacked the Palestine issue. The fact that extremists attach themselves to an issue doesn’t make the underlying issue illegitimate. People can have genuine concerns about illegal migration without being far right, just as people can care about Palestinian civilians without being far left. Both are legitimate issues that should be open to debate without automatically labelling people extremists.

What inaction ?

Numbers are falling rapidly thanks to this government acting. Unlike the Conservatives who caused it in the first place.

And it’s time we stopped fellating Israel.

Yes but, as OP points out, a 43% decrease in the number of people arriving is a really big increase if you think about it because the boats are bigger.

There are nearly 200 countries in the world and the UK was one of 12 who signed up. In answer to OP's post, it is more likely to be because of votes than boats.

It does seem a bit performative especially when the US probably has higher tariffs on Israeli goods than we do. But we sell more to Israel than Israel sells to us and we need the money so we can't be too principled.

It seems that you are starting to understand the OP's logic!

So in your eyes, OP, we should close our eyes to attested human rights breaches because boats?

I suspect you also feel we should close our eyes to blatant corruption in the Reform party.

I don't understand
So you think the vicious state- sanctioned thuggery and extreme violence that these 'settlers' mete out to innocent men, women and children should be allowed to go unpunished? You know they attack nuns and Catholic priests as well as Palestinian Muslims and have been doing so for decades
I have seen first- hand how non- Jews and even anti-Zionist Jews are treated and it is beyond horrific
It is about time sanctions on the whole of Israel were placed
This genocide has been going on way too long
So much bloodshed for what?

Wait, if the boats are bigger, does that mean we solved the small boat crisis?

there is outrage and protests about all the other atrocities in the World - what action are you taking?

You misquoted me. I never said it was about the 'muslim vote'. I said it was about the 'pro Palestinian vote'. In the recent council elections in London all the Green party literature did appear to be going for this vote. It wasn't subtle.

@Droopydroopingdropped did I say any of this in my original post? I just wonder why they took so long to impose sanctions and I thought the timing was strange given they could have done this last week or the week before. I should not have had this outrageous thought and posted it to Mumsnet! I am eternally sorry!

More likely to be because of votes than boats

I'm not sure if you just liked the rhyming in this sentence or what, but it is a rather bizarre comment to make. Why on earth would the UK government's policy on the illegal actions of Israeli settlers in Palestinian territories to have anything to do with boats?

Do you expect every single action taken by the UK government to focus on tackling the small boats issue to the exclusion of anything else?

Brave report here by Middle East correspondent, Lucy Williamson

'Israeli settlers laid siege to our home': Inside a Palestinian village under weekly attack - BBC News

Um, we have a new PM. Parliament has only just reopened. Do you think such big decisions should be taken without parliamentary scrutiny?

@Cheeks4970I do quite a lot regarding violence against women! Not on a mass protest scale, but I work on youth projects, that aim to better help and educate young men and women around violence and misogyny against women (in all cultures)!

@Sereinei hate Reform just as much as you, maybe even more so!

Shouldn't the Foreign Secretary be passionate about contemporary international issues? That's his actual job.

No. It’s time for the UK government to speak out on illegal settlements in the Occupied Territories. Israel has plenty of space for incomers to settle in.

OP Parliament returned on 1st September after the summer recess and Burnham has been PM since the end of July.

So it is perfectly normal for this new government to start announcing new policies and measures.

Also yesterday twelve other countries announced the same measures and condemned illegal settlement so it looks like it was a planned and coordinated move.

Are you suggesting Canada, France, Denmark and so on are part of a Labour publicity stunt?

Also the reality is that overall immigration in the UK and 'small boats' crossing are down so there is nothing to distract from.

I don't see anything wrong with various countries condemning what is being done to Palestinian civilians and objecting to children being killed in that conflict or objecting to illegal settlement.

I also don't see how this is being anti-jewish either, especially as many jews don't agree with Netanyahu's policies. It is just looking at the issue from a humanitarian point of view.

Small boat crossings are an insignificant problem in comparison to the climate crisis, the cost of living crisis, and women's security or lack of it is mostly due to many factors, the least of which are undocumented migrants. Read the facts, don't rely on Reform exaggeration.

Miliband has at last taken action on an issue that has taken far too long. It is not a distraction.

So, based on your thread title, you presumably think the small boats issue popped up for the first time, this week?

You don't have to post every thought you have as a new thread on Mumsnet, you know.

(Sorry, you probably know that, what with it being your first post and all).

BOATS!

OP, I 100% agree with you.

If the boat men were actually women and young children, I’d be more welcoming.

As it is, the boat men are arriving without documentation and we don’t know what we are allowing on our soil.

When I think of refugees, I think of the Ukraine women and children; the Ugandan boat people where whole families of all ages and both sexes were refugees; and then Nazi Germany where it was families and then children who were the main refugees. These are people who are fleeing for their lives, not entering a country illegally to see what they can grift from the system.

These men are coming here without documentation and we are bloody idiots and allowing it. What are we allowing onto our soil? We don’t know.

As for Israel and Palestine, this is just one conflict that will go on and on, with or without our sanctions. Israel is supported by the US; anything we do is small fry.

Meanwhile, British Jews may find themselves even more vulnerable and facing greater anti-semitism now. It’s like Ed and Andy don’t realise how this sanction will appear to some idiots in this country. And yes I know Milliband is Jewish but clearly not a practising Jew.