‘You were right’: Ed Miliband tells Labour conference ‘we hear you on Gaza’

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband told Labour conference this morning that those who raised the plight of Palestinians were right that Labour’s approach had not been enough, as he sought a refresh on foreign policy.

He told conference: “I want to say to the millions of people in this country and indeed elsewhere, who have been moved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people. We hear you. You were right”.

Miliband has recently announced sanctions on imports from illegal Israeli settlments, in some of the toughest actions yet by a British government.

He told conference that there is a “fundamental and wider lesson from Israel and Palestine about how we have changed our approach as a party”, saying Labour will succeed “because of, not in spite of, our progressive values’.

Miliband told conference that the party would be a lot more muscular in its foreign policy, ‘We are not here to accept the status quo but to change it at home and abroad’, he said.

The Foreign Secretary was particularly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu telling conference: “Let us state the reality about the Middle East.

“The only route to peace is two states, a secure Israel and a secure Palestine, with freedom, dignity and self-determination for both peoples.

“We all know how far away we are from that. Hamas’ murderous attack on October the 7th united the vast majority of the world in rightful condemnation.

“We stand, I say, against antisemitism wherever we find it, and in whatever form.

” And this and this party will always recognise the threats Israel faces and stand emphatically against those who seek its destruction.

“But this cannot justify the suffering the Netanyahu government has inflicted in Gaza and the West Bank.

“This suffering, this suffering is a stain on the conscience of the world.”

Miliband also said that Britain’s future lies in a ‘stronger, deeper partnership with Europe’

“We are part of this fight as humanitarians, but also as proud Europeans’, he said.

“This is our continent.

“And if there is one lesson that I have seen demonstrated to me again and again in this job, it is this: Europe is not just our geography, but so much more.

“It is how we pursue our values from climate to the Middle East.

“It’s how we pursue our interests, from trade to defence.

“It’s where we build and protect our alliances.

“So it is not simply Britain acting alone, but Britain with others.

“And on economics, on defence, on security.

“I say to this conference, our future lies in a stronger, deeper partnership with the European Union.”