Dear Editor, 

THE cruelties being inflicted upon the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip have provoked outrage around the world. Leading members of the Labour Party in Britain, including frontbench MPs, the Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, the Labour Mayors of London and Greater Manchester, and Labour groups on at least twenty councils have issued statements calling for an immediate ceasefire. However, here in Harlow there is a deafening silence from Chris Vince, who is both the Leader of the Labour Group on the Council and the Labour Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Harlow. 

The massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip and the cutting of supplies of water, food, medicine, and electricity to that territory are collective punishment, which is a crime under international law.  

The United Kingdom not only supplies arms to the State of Israel, it is also an important ally of that state. Political leaders at all levels in this country have a moral duty to condemn the British government’s support for the collective punishment of the people of the Gaza Strip. To remain silent is to endorse. 

I am a member of the Labour Party and I must say that I have always found Chris Vince to be somewhat vague about his stance on a number of political issues, but I do not think that it is unreasonable to expect the most prominent member of the party in the town to condemn war crimes and express support for a peaceful resolution of a conflict in which the British government is complicit. 

I hope that Harlow Council’s Labour Group will follow the example of their colleagues in places such as Glasgow, Leeds, and the London Boroughs of Brent and Tower Hamlets, and pass a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire and the full restoration of supplies of water, food, medicine, electricity and other necessities to the people of the Gaza Strip. 

Yours sincerely 

John Wake