After boasting of "resetting" policy towards the EU, Starmer has also decided to reset his policy on Gaza.
He says he is "horrified by the escalation by Israel" in Gaza over the past few days. He has now joined the Canadian PM and France's Macron in "strongly condemning" the Israeli government and demanding that its violence cease and that its army ends its 11 week long blockade of all food and medical supplies into the Strip.
This is the same Starmer who yesterday was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Israel's Netanyahu against "Hamas", claiming that the slaughter of the innocent in Gaza - and their starvation - was justified by "Israel's right to defend itself". Yes, all of 19 months since the war against Gaza began. Isn't this a bit too late?
It seems that Starmer et al have no problem identifying an "invasion" and an "occupation" when it comes to Ukraine, but they have cultivated a total blind spot when it comes to the crimes (according to their own laws!) of the Israeli state.
But then again, the British government doesn't even recognise Palestine, except in the abstract. It still talks absurdly about a future "two state solution", when Israeli settlers have long since occupied most of the land which was intended to become this "second" state on the West Bank.
The IDF launches its chariot of fire
So this Tuesday, foreign minister, David Lammy outlined "strong measures" against lsrael. Strong? British officials will stop talking with Israelis over a "free trade deal"! But only for now, mind...
There will also be more "targeted sanctions" against individual Israeli right-wingers - and some settlers who terrorise Palestinians on the West Bank for a living (in fact since they don't work, that's an accurate description of their "activity"). In other words, this government's "harsh measures" boil down to nothing, and it knows it. Westminster's policy is (still) made in Washington, after all.
It was only a week or so ago, that the British Air Force joined Netanyahus' and Trumps' fighter jets to bomb targets in Yemen (killing several civilians) for no other (real) reason than the Houthis' support for the people of Gaza...
It's also worth mentioning, that by then, Netanyahu had already announced his so-called "Operation Gideon's Chariots" which is in reality, his "final solution" for the Palestinians of Gaza.
Although he told the Knesset's Defence Committee last week that "We are destroying more and more homes. They have nowhere to return to... The only inevitable outcome will be the desire of Gazans to emigrate outside of the Gaza Strip".
He was even boastful about de facto, ethnic-cleansing the Strip. But is that even his real aim? Because the daily shelling and bombing has increased in the last weeks, hitting more and more tents and hospitals. And since there's no open exit for anyone to "emigrate", what conclusion can be drawn from this? That there was never any plan to relocate anyone - merely to annihilate all of them, following in Jewish biblical hero, Gideon's footsteps?
Open all the borders!
Israel's war, the war in Sudan, the war in Ukraine, the anti-Muslim pogroms in India/Kashmir, the gang-rule in Haiti, deathly famines, repressive regimes -... At the very moment that conditions in multiple places around the world are becoming intolerable for so many, resulting in refugees fleeing for their lives, the politicians of the rich countries are all closing borders. And, we can say, choosing te drown them in the sea.
It's ironical that billionaires and property tycoons, - capitalists to a man and woman (Meloni, Farage, Tice... Trump) - should pose as champions of the working class and blame these same desperate and drowning migrants for causing all the ills of their declining capitalist system: for the low wages and the job cuts imposed by greedy bosses just like themselves and their friends.
However the fact is that these opportunists and so-called populists are scoring votes in many of the richer countries on the basis of this anti-migrant rhetoric. And so it's being mimicked by traditionally more liberal politicians... and Keir Starmer.
Not only is he warning of too many immigrants (Britain becoming an "island of strangers"), but he is restricting vital migrant care workers' visas and is adopting Kemi Badenoch's policy of a 10-year qualifying period for British citizenship...
At a time like this, it becomes clearer than ever that workers need to have their own political party and their own programme, to fight for their interests as a class of many colours, languages and ethnicities - and above all, to fight for a socialist world without borders. That is the only way to end wars, poverty, and bigotry - and, what's more, the only way to save the planet's diverse resources.