At yesterday’s (9th July 2025) meeting of Sheffield City Council, members of the public and Councillors (Green and Independent) took Tom Hunt, the Labour Leader of the Council to task over his failure to support Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. As Netanyahu announces plans to forcibly move all the residents of Gaza to one giant concentration camp, we expect the Leader of our Council to be doing everything in his power to stop this ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Here are the video clips from the meeting.
Annie O’Gara from Sheffield Palestine Solidarity asked Cllr Hunt,” Is the Council still absolutely sure that it is not dragging Sheffield into the economy of Genocide?” Cllr Hunt replied
- Loss of innocent life is tragic
- Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are “utterly intolerable, and we cannot look away”
- Blocking aid, displacing people, expanding war in Gaza, spreading illegal outposts and settlements throughout the West Bank is indefensible – “and I have no problem with saying that.
- The difficulties of daily life in Nablus and for many Palestinians are clearly a result of those actions.
- We all want to see an end to the suffering
- The Israeli government must stop its military operations, stop spreading illegal outposts and immediately lift restrictions on humanitarian aid into Gaza
In reply to Julie Pearn, he said
- This Council will continue to extend a hand of friendship, support and solidarity to Nablus
- Thanks to the Sheffield Nablus Association for arranging the event
All these statements are well and good, but Cllr Hunt did not answer Annie’s question. He seems to be happy to welcome arms companies to Sheffield in the knowledge that their products may be used in the ongoing Genocide in Gaza. Annie O’Gara said after the meeting ” It’s not much use to deplore slaughter and then take no action to ensure you don’t in any way contribute to it.”
Julie Pearn from the Sheffield Nablus Twinning Association stated after the meeting
“I believe Tom Hunt is moved by the personal suffering of Palestinians such as 12 year old Iyad Shalakhteh, who died yesterday after being targeted by invading Israeli snipers in his home, the New Askar refugee camp in Nablus. It is pretty evident that Hunt’s recent first-hand contact with Amjad Refaie, a witness who came direct from the West Bank, has had the impact of seeing the catastrophic loss of Palestinian lives under genocidal Israeli attack not in the abstract but as the lives of real people, so many of them children, much like us.
I appreciate his words of condolence to Iyad’s family.
I also take encouragement from his more outspoken comments on the illegality of Israel’s action, both in Gaza and the West Bank, from which he said “we cannot look away”. He called on the Israeli government to “stop its military operations, stop spreading illegal outposts and immediately lift restrictions on humanitarian aid into Gaza” and also said that the difficulties of daily life in Nablus and for many Palestinians “are clearly a result of those actions”, which also included displacement of people and spread of settlements in the West Bank.
However, we need and expect more. Unless Tom Hunt is in dispute with the International Court of Justice, he needs to accept its ruling in July 2024 that Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is illegal. To use the term “illegal outposts” implies that any other aspects of Israeli occupation are legal. Iyad Shalakhteh’s untimely death is indeed a tragedy, but it is also a state crime, carried out by Israel’s army and with complete impunity because our government and other governments are too cowardly and morally dishonest to say so. The people of Sheffield need a leader who has the courage to stop giving cover to Israel’s crimes.”
Green Party Councillor Alexi Dimond said
“I believe the Labour leader of Sheffield Council misled the people of Sheffield yesterday. In a Members Question to him, I referenced reports that the Labour Government has sold more arms to Israel since coming to power than the Tories did in the preceding three years(1), has refuelled Israeli jets(2), is still exporting F35 parts(3), flies reconnaissance flights from RAF Akrotiri(4) and is still training the IDF(5). In response, Cllr Hunt said that what I said was “just not correct at all” and that he rejected “in the strongest possible terms the charges” I made – despite the fact that some of these “charges” have been confirmed by the government and to my knowledge none have been disputed.
It’s long been obvious that the Labour Party demands that its representatives deny the evidence of their eyes and ears, so that they can continue to arm and support the IDF as it carries out genocide.
This position becomes increasingly untenable the longer the atrocities go on. One day, everyone will have to account for their actions, and history will not judge those who stayed silent, or worse, abetted the perpetrators, kindly.
For hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, it is sadly too late. I hope and pray that these people will come to their senses before every Palestinian in Gaza and the West Bank has been killed. Time is running out to save Palestine and all humanity.”
- https://caat.org.uk/news/new-figures-reveal-massive-increase-in-uk-arms-exports-to-israel-as-government-defends-f-35-exemption-in-court
- https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/revealed-uk-labour-israeli-military-planes-land-gaza
- https://www.declassifieduk.org/fighter-jet-parts-sent-through-uk-airport-to-israel/
- https://www.thenational.scot/news/25180233.uk-sends-spy-plane-gaza-hours-attacking-israels-actions/
- https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-confirms-ongoing-training-of-israeli-forces-personnel/
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