WES Streeting being appointed Defence Secretary has been branded “disgraceful” by anti-war campaigners.
The former health secretary has been put in charge of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) by Prime Minister Andy Burnham in his new Cabinet.
Streeting, who was seen as a contender for the Labour leadership before he stood aside to allow Burnham to become Prime Minister uncontested, previously told Peter Mandelson that Israel was “committing war crimes before our eyes”.
The Scottish Greens have urged Streeting and new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to end the UK’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
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Stop the War and Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) said they were “appalled” by Burnham’s Cabinet choices, singling out Streeting and Chancellor John Healey, who has previously called for an increase to defence spending.
The new Defence Secretary’s comments on Israel and Gaza were revealed in messages between him and the disgraced Labour peer, which Streeting released ahead of their publication in the Mandelson Files.
Streeting also said that Israel is using “the language of ethnic cleansing” in the messages, but while health secretary he agreed to new rules that would make it easier for Britain’s medical regulators to suspend and strike off doctors accused of antisemitism and racism for holding pro-Palestine views, according to Middle East Eye.
The Defence Secretary also previously told the News Agents podcast that he would “reject the term genocide being used as some sort of ideological litmus test about whether you care about the lives of Palestinian people and kids”.
World leading academics – the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) – said last year that Israel has engaged in “widespread crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide” in Gaza. And, a United Nations (UN) inquiry found Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
Streeting was also a member of Starmer’s Cabinet while the UK Government fought a court battle to continue exporting fighter jet components to Israeli forces, criminalised protesters for supporting Palestine and allowed UK troops to provide training for the Israeli military.
He told the Guardian in June he was “horrified” by Israel’s actions in Gaza and did “everything I could behind the scenes to get the government to act with the moral urgency the conflict demands”. Streeting said he and other ministers felt like they were “hitting up against a brick wall” and their “concerns and motives were dismissed”.
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Streeting had resigned his Cabinet role two weeks earlier.
“Giving defence to a man with no discernable experience of the role other than defending Israel against NHS workers who speak out against Israeli genocide is disgraceful,” Stop the War and CND said in a joint statement released on Tuesday.
“Wes Streeting only claimed to have been ‘horrified’ by the war in Gaza after resigning as health secretary when plotting his own move against Keir Starmer and has called for a cut in welfare spending to fund defence.”
On Healey, they said Burnham handing the Treasury purse strings to a man who called for £197 billion increase in arms and nuclear weapons “demonstrates beyond doubt that the military industrial complex is in charge of Burnham’s economic policy”.
“The arms dealers and generals are undoubtedly now in the cabinet,” they added.
The anti-war campaigners urged Burnham, Miliband and Streeting to make a “total break” with the Starmer administration’s position on Israel and “swiftly” announce a package of sanctions and “total end to arm sales”.
The Scottish Greens also criticised Burnham for not setting out what he will do differently from Starmer, apart from apologising for how his predecessor handled Israel and Gaza.
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Co-leader Gillian Mackay said that while the “intensity of the violence” may have reduce, the “daily suffering and indignity” in Gaza will continue.
“Wes Streeting knows the pain that has been caused,” she added.
“We all saw his note to Peter Mandelson, in which he accused the Israeli government of war crimes and using the language of ethnic cleansing.
“Ed Miliband was one of the leading voices calling for Labour to recognise a Palestinian state. He rightly opposed UK complicity in Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza and the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.
“Now both men have responsibility for arms sales, military collaboration and training agreements. They have a choice. They can continue with Keir Starmer’s disastrous policy of complicity or they can finally break with it.
“I hope that they will both use their positions to end UK complicity in the genocide and the disastrous policies of Keir Starmer.”
After he was appointed, Streeting said on Twitter/X: “Keeping our country safe is the first duty of government.
“It is an honour to take on the role of Defence Secretary. We'll ensure our armed forces have the resources they need and stand steadfast alongside our international allies, especially Ukraine.
“Let’s get to work.”