This article is a review/report of the Israel-Palestine debate. Two emergency motions, #1 insubstantial applause for the leadership, and #2 (moved by Unison), were debated (very briefly) on the morning of 29 September.

#2 at least includes the call for a full arms embargo. LLI advocated delegates vote against #1 and for #2. The vote will be at 4:30pm.

We had heard a rumour that the chair would say that #2 fell if #1 was passed. It seems pretty clear that the rumour was wrong. There will be a vote on both, and if #2 is passed the leadership will reach for their fallback tactic of just ignoring it. (Didn’t work on Winter Fuel Allowance: we could make it “not work” here).

We could have wished for more in motion #2. Notably, Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and support for Standing Together and the anti-war movement in Israel. Also, clear differentiation from the counterproductive policy of “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions”, which has been used in Britain to try to “outlaw” support for and links with Standing Together and other anti-war activists and generally to stigmatise Israelis and Jews with family or other links with Israel.

But passing #2 will be good.