Declassified UK: is it “weird” to ask about Israel?

Posted: 6th October 2026

Martin Williams

Chief Investigator
Declassified UK

At the Labour Party conference this week, Ed Miliband told Palestine campaigners: “You were right.”

The foreign secretary promised: “We call out Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. And we match words with actions.”

It was the main foreign policy issue being talked about at the event, yet many Starmerite MPs didn’t seem to get the message.

Instead, they hurled abuse and allegations at us – for simply asking whether the government’s new measures go far enough.

Declassified was banned from entering the venue (for the third year in a row), despite outcry from left-wing MPs.

But we turned up anyway, interviewing dozens of politicians as they filed in.

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You might have thought, with a new prime minister, Labour politicians would feel confident about defending their record.

But instead, they ran away, scared of scrutiny, refusing to answer basic questions and calling us “weird” for asking about Israel.

Hamish Falconer refused to speak. Margaret Hodge told us to “go away”. And Peter Kyle was so desperate to escape scrutiny that he tried to go through a security gate – only to be stopped and turned away by the venue’s staff.

We also questioned Yvette Cooper, who banned Palestine Action when she was Home Secretary, and Lord Walney, the former chair of Labour Friends of Israel who strongly supports the ban.

The Labour Party is desperately trying to claw back support from voters who are disgusted by its stance on Palestine. For many, this was solidified when Keir Starmer claimed that Israel had the “right” to deprive Palestinian families of food and energy.

Andy Burnham and Ed Miliband have set a different tone, by announcing new sanctions on illegal settlements and calling out ethnic cleansing in the West Bank.

But we wanted to know: what’s actually going to change in practice?

Last year, Wes Streeting privately said that Israel should “pay the price as pariahs with sanctions applied to the state, not just a few ministers”.

But now that he’s defence secretary, he’s failed to do that. Moreover, the UK still has a secret military pact with Israel, along with an extensive intelligence-sharing relationship.

And Streeting’s Ministry of Defence still holds vast contracts with an arms company owned directly by the Israeli government.

And while Ed Miliband tells pro-Palestine campaigners they were “right”, it begs the question: “Who was wrong? And will they apologise?”

You can watch our full report from the Labour Party Conference on YouTube now.