Report from delegate, Andy Ford
We published the full statement by the Unite Executive Council, which was passed at the policy conference of the union with only a handful of votes against. That overwhelming support will have had a lot to do with the devastatingly moving speech of Mohammed Ajaz. Here, we publish it in full…
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Chair, Conference,
Mohammed Ajaz, Aerospace and Shipbuilding Sector.
I have listened to my colleagues speak about and debate the many motions raised around the Palestine situation, a very divisive and controversial topic for most, but a very sensitive and personal topic for myself and my family.
Being someone who has travelled to Gaza and the West Bank on six occasions, and someone who has family and friends living inside Gaza and the West Bank – sorry, I correct – somone who had family living inside Gaza, I am going to share with you if I may, a personal story of great despair, horror and heartache that has changed the lives of my family forever.
In the early hours of the morning on the 6th of November 2023, I got the dreaded call we had been fearing and having sleepless nights about: “THEY ARE ALL GONE”, my brother told me, with a very shallow and broken voice.“What do you mean they are all gone?”I replied. “THEY ARE ALL GONE, EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM, ALL TWELVE OF THEM AND THE BABY”
On the morning of 6th of November 2023, we lost thirteen members of our family: three generations, gone, overnight, in an instant.
Mother, father, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, grandchildren.
They had names. They had dreams. They had lives. They had hopes. They had basic human rights. or maybe not, after what we have seen and now know from the facts which are very clear and apparent.
If I may chair, before I continue my speech, can we please take a moment and remember my family, the Al Jaja family:
Ghanem Taufeek (our dear father)
Noura Em Mohamed (our dear mother)
Muhammad Al Jaja (our older brother)
Shayma Aboasker (our sister-in-law)
Shaam Al Jaja (our niece, seven years old)
Noura Al Jaja (our niece, four years old)
Taufeek Al Jaja (our younger brother)
Hala Alamassi (sister-in-law, eight and a half months pregnant, first child)
Baby of Hala and Taufeek
Zainab Al Jaja (our younger sister)
Esraa Al Jaja (our younger sister)
Nimaar Abu Mohamed (our brother-in-law)
Mohammed Nimaar (our nephew, six years old)
What was their crime? I hear you say. They weren’t politicians; they weren’t part of any resistance groups or organisations; they weren’t fighters or armed. Simply an honest hard-working family, trying to protect their children and live a simple life.
The crime, if you want to call it a crime, our older brother Muhammad worked for the press and media team inside Gaza, simply trying to bravely do his job and report to the world the facts and information as the events were unfolding, something which was and has since been denied to our free press and media around the world.
My family wasn’t caught in the crossfire; they were not collateral damage as some would imply during a war; they were murdered and butchered in a targeted attack. They were obliterated beyond recognition. In fact, our younger sister, Esraa, could only be identified by the ring on her finger, which was found amongst the rubble and body parts.
As we are all aware, the Press, journalists, doctors, care workers, hospitals, teachers, and now aid workers have been deliberately targeted in the name of self-defence.
As we are all aware, this war and consequently the genocide and ethnic-cleansing we are currently seeing played out live in front of our eyes, didn’t start on October the 7 2023. It started decades ago.
For the benefit of this debate, and to concentrate on the main points, I want to highlight and raise today, let’s take it from October 2023. Back in October 2023, when the war started, a war in the name of self-defence, and the narrative of “Israel had a right to defend itself”, one could argue and debate that as an individual it was very difficult to draw conclusions based on the information that was available.
Very early into the conflict, the extreme views and the choice of words used by the Israel leadership raised red flags – Palestinians were being compared to human animals. “We will cut all electric, food and water supply to them”, they declared. “They are all terrorists, including the children, claimed senior members of the Israeli cabinet. They were proudly showing the world a map of their Greater Israel,
Surely, they could not, or certainly would not be able to carry out these genocidal acts with all the international laws protecting the basic rights of human beings and humanity? Surely the international governing bodies all around the world would stop this or block this from happening? Surely our leaders in the UK government would stand up, speak for and protect the human rights and uphold the international laws?
How wrong could we be?
How has this been allowed to happen?
We said we would learn from our history and past events, and never allow a genocide or ethnic-cleansing to ever happen again.
We were wrong and we have failed.
Conference, brothers and sisters, chair, we are all sat in this conference because we share the same values, ethics and morals
The values, ethics and morals that form the strong core roots of our trade union movement, the same values our trade union was born with, and the same values that have enabled our trade union to grow and become the strongest and most successful trade union in this country if not the world, we have always led the way for a positive change. We have always stood up to be the voice for the oppressed. We have always stood up to protect the rights of our members and friends within our communities.
The fundamental core of our values is humanity and protecting human rights, and this surely is a responsibility upon each and every one of us?
Sitting on the fence and watching in silence is not an option.
History will judge us for our actions.
My fellow comrades, we will get questioned by our children and grandchildren in the future. Mummy, daddy, grandad, grandma, what did you do to stop the genocide and ethnic cleansing that was being streamed live to you from Palestine?
Did you speak up?
Did you try and stop it?
Did you support them?
Did you send them food and water when they were being starved?
These will be difficult conversations, and I hope we can all answer them with confidence and pride and say that we upheld our duties and obligations as human beings who cared about protecting humanity and basic human rights.
Hopefully we will be the ones that will be judged to be on the right side of history.
Comrades, there’s a saying which forms a strong part of my faith and religion: “Protecting and saving one innocent life is like saving the whole of humanity. Killing or taking one innocent life is like killing the whole of humanity”
This certainly is something we all need to contemplate and reflect on when making our choices going forward. We can’t change the past, but we can certainly stand up united and make the correct decisions to shape the future.
Please support the Executive statement and all the motions around Palestine, because we need to stand up united and be the ones that made the right choices to protect humanity and helped save the innocent lives.
Chair, I sincerely appreciate the statement released by the Executive council in support of the Palestine motions yesterday.
General Secretary, you correctly stated in your speech to conference yesterday that this is a genocide and ethnic cleansing, I make a personal request for you to send out a strong public statement to our members and the government to call it for what it is. What are they waiting for? It is as clear as daylight. “It is genocide. It is ethnic cleansing. And it has to stop”
I formally second motion 78, and encourage you all to support this and all motions in support of the Palestine cause.
I sincerely appreciate all the efforts and sacrifices many of you in this room are making to stand up and speak up for our brothers and sisters in Palestine. They hear you, and feel your support, please don’t give up and continue in your fight to get justice and freedom for Palestine.
Stop the Genocide. Free Palestine. Solidarity for all.
Thank you
(standing ovation from delegates)
Postscript: Andy Ford writes…
Mohammed Ajaz stunned the conference with this quiet and dignified speech describing the murder of his entire family in a targeted bombing by the IDF. Their only ‘crime’ was that one of the family was a journalist trying to get the truth out to the world.
At the end of Mohammed’s speech you could have heard a pin drop, except for the sound of some delegates crying. There was not a dry eye in the hall and the Chair and General Secretary on the platform looked visibly shaken. One delegate had a panic attack and had to be treated by a nurse on our delegation.
No one could follow a speech like that, and the Chair declared a one minute silence in memory of all those killed in Gaza.
Such is the horror of Gaza – a horror that the narrow clique around Keir Starmer try their best to ignore and to gloss over, along with our corrupt press who swing from censorship and lies, to occasional hypocritical expressions of regret, to horrible excuses and justifications for mass murder and starvation.
By their actions and words the press and politicians have revealed themselves to be devoid of elementary human empathy – empathy that was there in abundance at our union conference.
Working class solidarity can and must overcome racial hatred, militarism and war.
