London, UK – For long-time Labor Party activist Sophia Naqvi, the lightbulb moment came just days into the current Middle East crisis.
On October 11, four days after Hamas killed Israeli civilians and captured scores of prisoners, Israel responded with an aggressive campaign of air strikes and blockades. Labor Party leader Keir Starmer gave an interview to radio station LBC.
In it, he said Israel had the “right” to cut off electricity and water from Gaza.
Labor later denied Mr Starmer intended to support cutting off supplies to the territory by Israel, saying instead he supported Israel’s right to defend itself.
But for Naqvi and many others, the damage was done.
“For me, that party no longer represented me,” Naqvi told Al Jazeera.
“It’s a question of principle. In the 21st century, how can you say it’s okay if your water, food and electricity go out? He’s supposed to be a human rights lawyer because he talks like that.”
Mr Naqvi has left the Labor Party.
This was not a decision she made lightly. She was a member of the Labor Party for her ten years. In her hometown of Newham, east London, she was the party’s women’s officer.
Her father and grandfather were also involved in the Labor Party. But it felt very clear.
“There will come a time when the road will split in two. You can stay on the wrong side, or you can leave.”
Twenty days after Mr Starmer’s interview, he said more Palestinians were being killed in Gaza and it was not the time to call for a ceasefire, but called for a pause in fighting to allow aid to be sent to the besieged area.
Mr Starmer faces a further big test as a second parliamentary motion calling for an immediate ceasefire is expected to be tabled next week.
According to the latest census, 32 per cent of Newham’s residents are Muslim, making it one of the largest Muslim communities in the UK.
Two Labor MPs control the majority, and until recently all 60 local council seats belonged to Labor.
Immediately after leaving the party, Naqvi ran as an independent candidate in a local council by-election and won a seat.
“While I was knocking on campaign doors, people said, ‘Labour? Go somewhere else.’ I said, ‘I’m independent,'” she recalls. “I realized that many people had the same beliefs as me about what was happening in Gaza and wanted them to be represented.”
The October 7 Hamas-led attack left 1,1139 people dead. Israel’s months-long assault on Gaza has killed at least 28,663 people and destroyed much of the populated area.
Labor traditionally enjoys support from Britain’s Muslim community, and constituencies with large Muslim populations are among the party’s safest seats.
However, there are signs that the situation is changing, with Labor rejecting calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
A snapshot poll conducted by Savanta in November found that 41% of Muslim voters said they had negative feelings towards Labor since the conflict broke out.
A recent poll conducted by Survation for the London Muslim Network found that among Muslims who voted Labor in the 2019 general election, are they likely to vote again in this year’s general election? was only 60%.
In the same poll, 85% of British Muslims said a party’s political position on the Israel-Gaza war would influence their vote.
It is not clear what impact this will have on the voting booth, given Labor’s commanding position in the polls overall.
“Nationally, the Muslim community tends to generally stick to the Labor Party, and locally in Newham it’s no different,” said Tahir Talati, an imam and Newham Islamic Forum volunteer.
“But there’s a lot of anger within the community. Labour’s position, its duplicity, Starmer’s comments. The party doesn’t understand that the strength of feeling on this issue is not temporary.”
Disappointment with Labour’s response to the Gaza crisis has exacerbated existing trends.
In 2021, exactly one year into Mr Starmer’s leadership, a poll conducted in response to reports of Islamophobia within the party found that 55% of British Muslims felt that the Labor Party leadership “We do not have confidence in effectively tackling Islamophobia.”
For some Muslim voters, the party’s refusal to take a clear position on Gaza – calling for humanitarian relief while supporting Israel – is falling on deaf ears. It makes the sensation even worse.
“It feels like we don’t care, like Labor thinks, ‘Oh, Muslims are going to vote for us no matter what happens because they have nowhere else to go politically.’ So that’s an excuse not to listen to our voices.” Ali Azhar, cafe manager in Stratford, one of Newham’s main hubs.
He plans to abstain.
“I’ve always voted Labor, but to be honest, I don’t feel like voting at this rate.”
While this trend is unlikely to keep Labor out of power, it does create some tension among individual Labor MPs who represent constituencies with large Muslim populations.
A website called theMuslimVote.co.uk suggests which candidates to support in a variety of areas. The party said it was “focusing on seats where the Muslim vote could influence the outcome” and would not support anyone who “voted against or abstained from the cease-fire vote”.
It lists a variety of backers, including NGOs, community organizations and Muslim-owned businesses.
“It used to be that if you put a Labor Party symbol on a lamppost, people would vote for it, but that’s changing,” Naqvi said. “We expect more from Labor than from the Conservatives because it used to be a party of social justice, a party of the working class.”
Mr Talati said in Newham that the two Labor MPs had dealt with the issue in very different ways.
Stephen Timms has done “great work on this issue,” bringing up Gaza in Congress and communicating with Muslim voters.
In contrast, another member of Congress, Lynn Brown, reportedly did not respond to requests for meetings from Muslim community organizations.
“If it’s under our control and we have a credible independent candidate, the community will vote for them,” Talati said.
“But that would require a big, organized local campaign, and I don’t think anyone in Newham has that kind of appetite.”
Many Muslim voters share a feeling that their voices are not being heard by the parties they have long supported.
“Nobody likes the Tories, but we’re not going to vote for Keir Starmer,” Talati said.
“We know he is most likely to be in power, but he is not going to be in power based on our votes.”