The RMT General Secretary made the comments at a fringe meeting at the TUC Congress

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has slammed the government’s decision to only suspend some arms sales to Israel, suggesting it is akin to someone in the 1840s saying they only intended to ‘abolish some slavery’. Lynch made the remarks at a fringe meeting hosted by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) at this year’s TUC Congress in Brighton.

Speaking at the meeting, Lynch said: “We’ve got to put the Labour government under pressure. I saw David Lammy making this major intervention last week – some licenses will not be renewed or will be revoked. Some licenses – what was it 30 out of 150 or something of that number?

“This is like somebody standing up in front of you in the 1840s and saying ‘I’m going to abolish some slavery. I’m going to liberate some people. I’m going to do this measure, but it’s only going to apply in a very small way.”

At the meeting, Lynch and other leading trade unionists explained what they think the labour movement should be doing to act in solidarity with the Palestinian people in response to Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. UCU general secretary Jo Grady, PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote and NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede all spoke on the panel. There was a broad consensus among the speakers that the government should be ending all arms sales to Israel.

Heathcote told the meeting: “We should be asking our government: Where are the sanctions? Where is the arms embargo? Where is the expulsion of Israeli diplomats? Our PCS members work in government departments that grant weapons licenses and if the government doesn’t respect international law, we will continue to explore the possibility of taking legal action in defence of those members.”

Kebede, meanwhile, said “we should all welcome” the partial suspension of arms sales to Israel, but acknowledged that the suspension does not include British made parts for F-35 fighter jets that have been used in operations in Gaza. He went on to say “the UK must also implement a complete ban on the sale of arms to Israel”.

At another point of the meeting, Grady – who’s union represents academic staff – said: “Israel has systematically, physically eliminated the Palestinian higher education system – deliberately destroying every single university in Gaza, assassinating leading Palestinian intellectuals. It is a core strategy of destroying education.”

Closing the meeting was Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal, who opened his remarks by saying: “I will always say that as a Palestinian and as a director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign I am grateful for the solidarity of the trade union movement and never take it for granted”, but called on trade unions to do “more” to campaign in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward

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