Can’t stand Owen Jones, good riddance.
But it makes me sad when I talk to my 95 year old Dad, fervent Labour all his life, talk about cancelling his Labour membership because of Gaza.
This is a complicated issue, I don’t wish to derail, but my heart breaks at the total mess of it all. Hamas are the evil fuckers who caused it all, most of the Gulf states are happy to harbour their leaders. Netanyahu is a power mad war criminal - there is absolutely no need to go to the destructive lengths he has. Ordinary people are suffering and there is a lot of anti Semitic and anti Muslim bullshit out there.
Initially I thought Labour’s stance on a ceasefire was right because Israel was defending itself against such heinous crimes. But as it’s worn on and become so disproportionate, I think surveys show most people support a ceasefire. Labour should have changed their stance earlier. Even the US is starting to change their tune.
In the meantime it’s caused a hell of a lot of damage on the Left. A lot of people want simple black and white views and are frightened by complexity and their own impotence. There is so much infighting and papers like the Guardian which my Dad reads avidly, have fed this unreservedly. To look at it some days you would think Labour were in power and the Guardian were supporting some far left opposition, they criticise them so much, whilst no one seems to ever question Sunak on it.
I think my Dad will fail to vote this year and if that is repeated at scale then we’re in a big mess.