TUC Congress 2025: In a moving gesture, all delegates stood in silent acclamation with TUC posters declaring their support for a Free Palestine.

On Monday, September 8, prior to its presentation to Parliament, the UK's Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) was officially announced by Defence Secretary John Healey during a visit to the defence tech firm Rowden in Bristol. He announced that Cardiff, Belfast, Glasgow, Sheffield and Plymouth will receive investment to expand each of the areas' military and security industries. Later that day, the government presented a statement on the DIS for "debate" in Parliament. The statement [1] was given by Luke Pollard, Minister of State for Defence, on "a plan supported by £773 million of investment - a plan to make defence an engine for economic growth in every nation and region of our country". The statement reiterated that the "government have committed the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war: 2.6% of GDP by 2027, and 3.5% by 2035, alongside our NATO allies". This followed Keir Starmer's announcement of the Strategic Defence Review [2] on June 2, where he announced increased spending on the war industries' armed forces as the priority for the economy to put Britain on "war-fighting readiness". However on Tuesday these plans of the Labour government were rejected by the 2025 TUC Congress representing millions of workers in the trade union movement. They rejected the plans of the government and Westminster noting that "rearmament is not a suitable standalone foundation for national renewal" and the demand was to "reaffirm that our movement's priority is welfare and wages, not weapons and war".

What was so noticeable was that the debate in Westminster arrogantly declaring its intentions to impose on "every nation and region of the country" the increased militarisation of the economy took place with no opposition within the cartel party system and without any discussion in the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland Assemblies. Minister of State for Defence Luke Pollard, as well as the opposition, spoke particularly openly on behalf of the interests of the arms industries dressed up as supporting and increasing the "defence industry workforce". The MPs' questions were mainly supporting this lie that this was to "create skilled jobs", pleading with the Minister for investment in their respective deprived areas when it was clear that this would not happen. Where were the voices pointing out that this direction for society, increasing investments in war preparations, not in social programmes, is all at the expense of the working people and their communities? The bulk of the public investment goes into the coffers of the huge armament manufacturers in Britain such as BAE Systems, as well as into purchasing armaments in the US and France. An arms trade and dangerous arms race is at the heart of Britain's economy and the continued interference and warmongering abroad does not benefit working people. Supporting Israel in its genocide of the Palestinian and continuing to escalate NATO's proxy war against Russia in Ukraine is making the world more dangerous for workers everywhere.

The opposite stand on the government's plans took place in the discussions of the working class and trade union movement at the TUC Congress. Here there was real courage and sincere debate with consequently real opposition to the government's making military spending the priority for the economy. Motion 37, moved by the University College Union (UCU) and National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) on "Wages and Not Weapons" [3], was fully debated. The motion recognised that "rearmament is not a suitable standalone foundation for national renewal" and called for the "reverse [of TUC] policy, dating from 2022, of support for immediate increases in defence spending". The motion resolved to "prioritise campaigning for public investment in Britain's public realm, decimated by austerity", to "commit to a safe, liveable planet" and to "reaffirm that our movement's priority is welfare and wages, not weapons and war". It was carried by votes in the hall and in a majority card vote with 2.8 million vote for and 2.2 million votes against. This is a significant shift in recent TUC policy, defeating the argument that increases in military spending should be supported as they create jobs in these industries.

Opposition to Israeli genocide

Motion 37, which also highlights firm opposition to British support of the Israeli genocide, citing that "British participation in the F-35 programme implicates it in Israel's grave violations of international law in Gaza", was followed up on Wednesday with a composite motion moved by the National Education Union (NEU) and UNISON supported by PCS and the Artists Union and passed unanimously [4]. This motion demanded that Britain secure a ceasefire, aid and food access for Palestinians and "immediately end all arms trade and military collaboration with Israel in line with international law", and that the government must "implement a total ban on all trade which aids or assists Israel's violations of international law including with Israel's illegal settlements". The motion also stood against the criminalisation of protest, with the demand to "repeal the authoritarian proscription of Palestine Action under counter-terrorism laws and uphold and strengthen the right to peaceful protest following the arrest of activists, including Ben Jamal, on peaceful Palestine Solidarity Campaign marches".

Following the debates on the motions and resolutions, Congress delegates were addressed by Shaher Saed from the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions [5]. In a moving gesture, all delegates stood in silent acclamation with TUC posters declaring their support for a Free Palestine. This again demonstrates the quality of the stand of the workers' movement and its internationalism, differentiated from the anti-social, anti-worker, pro-war, pro-domination outlook of the ruling elites.

What was said in the debate on Motion 37

In the TUC debates, unions and their delegates expressed their views openly when speaking either for or against the motions. They spoke from their delegation's view on what they thought favoured the members of the unions concerned. The mover of the motion on Wages Not Weapons, Jo Grady, noted the "importance of such debates and it is what our movement is built on". She pointed out that "our country is broken, education, health care, public services, fire and rescue, rail mail, water - either privatised or starved of funding". In other words, she said, it is "wrecked, with thousands on the streets homeless". Yet, she said, they tell us "we can afford the worlds fifth largest military budget - £59.8 billion pounds a year, Congress. Cash found for weapons; no cash found for wages!" Referring to the motion three years ago that was adopted by the TUC Congress to increase defence spending to "protect jobs" she said that three years ago in this hall it was a narrow vote but "it put us on the wrong side of history. Today we have the chance to put that right. That means we need to overturn our support for increased defence spending." She said: "We are a justice movement. It is not good enough to say 'jobs first', not when as a result of those jobs hell is rained down on other workers elsewhere, when those weapons are used to murder children and target innocent people." She concluded by saying that we should fight for the alternative, "we must have better ambitions than that. We must demand funding in alternative employment and not more of the same." The question she put to Congress at the end was: "Do we want to live in a world of peace and justice?" The TUC Congress 2025 voted yes to peace and justice.

Also speaking in the debate, seconding the motion for RMT, Alex Gordon said, "This was a vital motion when Donald Trump demands that NATO members spend 5% of GDP on so-called 'defence spending' in the very week that the US President has renamed the US Department of Defence as the War Department." He also pointed out that the German Chancellor Merz had said that "Germany can no longer afford its welfare state because of his government's plans for massive military re-armament". He said that here in Britain "our government uses the language of 'hard choices' to explain cuts to welfare benefits ... while lavishing eye-watering sums of public money on arms spending with a false promise of reviving Britain's manufacturing industries and most deprived regions through arms manufacturing".

Alex Gordon called in the Congress not to believe the hype. He said that the announcement by the British government for "millions on defence growth deals as part of Britain's defence industry will push communities into further deprivation, funnel critical funds away from the job-rich sectors of our economy such as health, transport, housing and infrastructure renewal, and will create greater international instability. Far from being a boost to jobs and skills here in Britain, ramping up military spending is a smash-and-grab raid on our public services, public service workers' jobs and wages. Also, as Donald Trump has made abundantly clear, the jobs and profits from military spending in the UK will flow across the Atlantic into the US-dominated supply chain." He concluded that "the jobs boost the government is promoting is tiny in comparison to the level of public funds. Congress, we can make a difference this week and have an opportunity to send a strong message that the government is going in the wrong direction. Our movement needs to call for a kick-start to the economy to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. We need defence diversification, we need welfare not warfare, we need wages not weapons." All of the speeches can be followed on the TUC You Tube [6].

For a new direction for the economy, for the independent programme of the working class

The government's Defence Industrial Strategy is one of the main parts of its Strategic Defence Review (SDR) announced on June 2 and the government's Spending Review 2025 announced by the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, on June 11 [7]. The SDR's aims that Britain must maintain its nefarious role in the world at all costs even if this threatens further wars that Britain cannot win and further impoverishes the British people. The SDR defends the arming of Israel by lauding the 20% of the US F-35 that is manufactured in Britain. It lauds the asset of the Akrotiri and Dhekélia sovereign base area of British overseas territory in Cyprus, from which Britain sends its cargo of death and its spy planes to Israel and Gaza as well launching its joint bombing attacks on Yemen that the SDR supports. The SDR claims that Britain's security guarantees are linked to the US, NATO, the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), and AUKUS. It declares that the cause of peace is threatened by China, Russia, Iran and the DPRK, as well as the resistance movements of the peoples of the world who are fighting for their right to be and to realise their aspirations for peace, freedom and democracy.

In summary, the main aim of the UK's Defence Industrial Strategy announced on September 8 as part of the SDR is not about "defence" or "security" for the British people, but is to take Britain in the direction of a war-ready economy for the criminal interests of the ruling elite and their ambitions to conquer markets abroad and destroy other countries that they cannot control. This cannot be accepted.

Workers' Weekly applauds the TUC and the trade unions and their delegates for fighting for the alternative, for taking a stand against this warmongering direction for the economy and standing with Palestine. We call on the whole working class and people's movements to be vigilant and step up the fight in defence of the rights of all and for people's empowerment in these circumstances. Economic renewal will only be served by people speaking out in their own name and in their collectives for all that serves their own interests for peace and real economic and national security, independent of what the Executive stationed in the Palace of Westminster seeks to dictate. This is a lesson from the TUC Congress 2025.

Reject the government's plan to dress-up the direction to a war economy as "renewal" of the economy!
For a new direction for the economy, for the independent programme of the working class!

Notes
1. Defence Industrial Strategy September 8
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-09-08/debates/7450B4E0-BA08-439D-85E7-F20285D444E3/DefenceIndustrialStrategy
2. Strategic Defence Review: Starmer's Attempt to Put Britain on "War-Fighting Readiness" Cannot Be Accepted
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-25/ww25-13/ww25-13.htm
3. Motion 37 Wages not weapons
https://congress.tuc.org.uk/motion-37-wages-not-weapons/#sthash.9ip35g9N.dpbs
4. Composite 14 The crisis in Palestine - Comprising Motion 71 plus amendments
https://congress.tuc.org.uk/c14-the-crisis-in-palestine/#sthash.ssTuxCfw.1lASpbWU.dpbs
5. Shaher Saed addresses TUC Congress - September 10 2025
https://www.tuc.org.uk/speeches/shaher-saed-addresses-tuc-congress
6. Trades Union Congress (TUC) - You Tube
https://www.youtube.com/@tradesunioncongress
7. Spending Review 2025: Dressing-Up the Direction to a War-Ready Economy as "Economic Renewal"
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-25/ww25-14/ww25-14-01.htm

Striking bin workers in Birmingham have overwhelmingly voted to extend industrial action until March 2026, marking one of the longest labour disputes in the city's history. The strike, which began in March last year, has left Birmingham grappling with over 17,000 tonnes of uncollected waste. The workers overwhelmingly voted 99.5% in favour of extending strike action on a turnout of 72%, reports Unite the Union, who add that Birmingham City Council had already by July spent £6.5 million on agency workers and £1.3 million to the contractor Tom White Waste to undermine the strike [1].

The dispute was sparked by Birmingham City Council's decision to eliminate Waste Recycling and Collection Officer (WRCO) roles, which Unite claims would impose pay cuts of up to £8,000 annually on 170 workers. Labelling these as cuts as "brutal", Unite writes that they would even leave some at risk of losing their homes. The union has demanded written guarantees for long-term pay protection and the reinstatement of the WRCO role, which the council has so far refused to give. Negotiations mediated by ACAS collapsed in May 2025 after the council declared it had "reached the absolute limit" of what it could offer. Unite rejected the council's "fire and rehire" tactics and accused the government-appointed commissioners running the council of sabotaging a potential deal.

"Talks brokered by the conciliation service ACAS in May and led by the council's chief executive Joanne Roney agreed a 'ball-park' deal which would have ended the dispute," writes Unite. "However, Ms Roney latterly advised that she could not get the deal past the commissioners. It is clear therefore that there is no point at this stage having further negotiations with the council. The ball is in the government's court."

Instead, the public authority at both national and regional level has plainly revealed itself to be employing nothing but police powers - the dictate of the state - wielded in favour of private interests. In July, explains Unite, "the government amended the Employment Rights Act so that councils like Birmingham could legally fire and rehire their workers."

At the same time, the conflict has intensified in the courts. In May, the High Court granted an indefinite injunction restricting picketing activities after the council alleged obstruction of bin lorries. The order limits pickets to six per depot, bans tactics like "slow walking", and threatens violators with contempt of court charges. In August, the council applied for contempt proceedings against Unite, claiming "persistent evidence" of breaches, including blockades of vehicles. Unite has called these legal actions "distractions" and pledged to challenge the injunction while complying with its terms.

"Throughout this dispute the government has denied any involvement. It is now clear that commissioners [then] reporting to Angela Rayner blocked a ball-park deal thrashed out at ACAS," said Unite general secretary Sharon Graham. "The recent amendment by the government to the Employment Rights Bill... shows what is really going on here. Council workers are being lined up to pay the price for years of austerity."

"There is no point at this stage negotiating further with the council as they do not have authority to resolve the dispute," she continued. "If Labour cannot see what is happening in Birmingham is wrong, it is little wonder workers are turning away from them in droves," essentially pointing to the inability of the cartel party system to resolve any issue in favour of the public interest and the rights of all. Indeed, on July 11, the union suspended then Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner for supporting the council's position.

Speaking at the TUC Congress 2025, Sharon Graham particularly condemned the government over the ongoing strike, particularly over legislation that would allow councils issuing a section 114 notice to be able to fire and rehire workers, and accused Birmingham council, backed by the government, of using Margaret Thatcher's anti-union laws to try and break the picket lines. "These workers will not be allowed to be starved back to work," she declared.

Amid discussion within Unite about potential disaffiliation from the Labour Party, Sharon Graham issued a message to the party leadership: "I say this loud and clear to Labour - any fines we get because of supposed injunctions on our picket lines and breaches, every single penny will come out of our Labour affiliation."

The workers began intermittent strike action in January and indefinite strike action in March. "Strike action will continue for as long as necessary with Unite's unyielding support," declared Unite national lead officer Onay Kasab. "Politicians' treatment of these workers, including lies about no one losing pay and broken promises about being able to retrain in driving roles that are now nowhere to be seen, is amongst the worst Unite has even seen."

With the council sticking fast to its stance of imposition, with government support, the struggle shows no signs of abating. As rubbish continues to pile up, the bin workers' struggle has become a symbol of resistance against austerity and a fight for the dignity of labour.

The strike has galvanised widespread solidarity, including "megapickets" at depots like Lifford Lane, featuring speakers from unions such as ASLEF, the FBU, and the NEU. Jeremy Corbyn also joined protests in July, underscoring the national significance of the dispute.

The way out of the crisis lies in fighting for the alternative and against the cuts. The alternative is being outlined by the bin workers speaking in their own name and providing themselves with an outlook. The bin workers' strike represents not just a struggle over wages and roles, but over fundamental questions such as who bears the cost of the crisis, the direction of the economy, the funding of social programmes, and who decides. People need control over their livelihoods and living conditions. Enough is Enough!

Note
1. "Birmingham bin workers vote to extend strike past Christmas and into spring", Unite the Union, September 2, 2025
https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2025/september/birmingham-bin-workers-vote-to-extend-strike-past-christmas-and-into-spring

(Additional sources: BBC News, The Guardian, LabourList, Birmingham City Council, local reports, and previous Workers' Weekly coverage)

Protest in Downing Street against the visit to Britain of Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, September 9

A number of large and militant demonstrations took place last week, despite travel difficulties caused by the London tube strike. Thousands protested against the visit to Britain of Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, who did not dare show his face in public.

It is shameful that Prime Minister Keir Starmer saw fit to meet with the Israeli President on September 10 in Downing Street. The Downing Street press release reported that Keir Starmer "condemned Israel's action in Doha yesterday as completely unacceptable. He said the strikes were a flagrant violation of a key partner's sovereignty and do nothing to secure the peace we all desperately want to see. Turning to Gaza, he reiterated his huge concern and implored Israel to change course. They must stop the manmade famine from worsening further by letting aid in and halting their offensive operations, he added."

It is all very well exchanging words. But what about the demand that war criminals must be brought to justice? Even more to the point, Britain has a reprehensible history of complicity in the attempts to deny the Palestinian people their rights, to say the least, stretching back over a century. As Downing Street also said in its statement, Starmer "finished by saying that the UK and Israel are longstanding allies". Not only that, but sources reported that flight tracker data has shown that an RAF refuelling aircraft was circling overhead as Israel was bombing Doha, the latest instance of such reports of RAF aircraft being active in conjunction with Israeli crimes. The No.10 press release ends by asserting, "Both leaders were clear that Hamas will play absolutely no role in this future." How dare the British Prime Minister tell the Palestinian people how to determine their own future! That epitomises the old colonial mentality of those in power.

As a Stop the War newsletter points out: "Rather than arresting the war criminal, Starmer's government provided him with a police escort to shelter him from the huge protests that followed the genocide President around the city." Stop the War and the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a legal complaint calling for the arrest of Herzog while he was in London. However, the police failed to act and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) rejected it, despite the justice of the complaint. Stop the War commented, "While the state arrests protestors it protects war criminals."

We reproduce below the press release from the Stop the War website, dated September 12, 2025:

Herzog Complaint: police fail to act and CPS issues weak rejection on purported evidential grounds

Protest in Downing Street against the visit to Britain of Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, September 9

On 10 September 2025 the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), represented by their UK solicitors, the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) and Stop the War Coalition, both represented by the Public Interest Law Centre [PILC], filed a criminal complaint to the relevant UK authorities seeking the arrest of Israeli President Isaac Herzog for grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. (HRF, ELSC and Stop the War Coalition had already taken the preliminary step of writing to the Police, Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and Attorney General's Office on 9 September 2025).

Together, they submitted a Case Summary providing clear and detailed evidence of Herzog's personal role (i.e. as an accessory to war crimes) in Israel's policy of starvation, the systematic destruction of Gaza, and other acts that may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, on 10 September 2025. This evidence includes Herzog's own public statements erasing civilian protection, his denial of famine in Gaza in the face of overwhelming UN documentation, and his visits to military sites - including Nahal Oz and Gaza - where his presence coincided with or directly preceded destructive military campaigns such as Operation Oz and Nir.

Despite this compelling material, the Metropolitan Police have failed to arrest Herzog or to indicate any reasons for failing to act, and on the evening of 10 September 2025 a CPS lawyer writing on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) rejected the criminal complaint and the separate application for permission to seek a judicial arrest warrant on the grounds of "insufficient admissible evidence".

HRF, ELSC and Stop the War Coalition, consider this conclusion to be deeply flawed and legally unsustainable, since much of the evidence is already admissible, including Herzog's own unequivocal statements. Additionally, the CPS should already - as part of its due diligence duty under the Geneva Conventions - have collected and analysed material regarding war crimes in Gaza, given that there is a substantial body of open-source evidence in the form of video evidence, first-hand accounts and reports in the public domain.

Protest in Downing Street against the visit to Britain of Isaac Herzog, President of Israel, September 9

These extensive reports include those of international bodies that document, in forensic detail, patterns of conduct amounting to grave breaches of international law in Gaza and across Palestine, and the evidence already filed with the War Crimes Team on 7 April 2025 by PILC and the Palestine Centre for Human Rights. Any further evidence could easily be secured with minimal investigative effort. The CPS also failed to follow its own published guidance, which requires written directions to be given on how evidence could be made admissible when consent is refused on evidential grounds. No such guidance was provided in this case.

As regards the Police inaction, HRF, ELSC and Stop the War Coalition renew their request to the SO15 (the Metropolitan Police Service's specialist War Crimes Unit), to arrest Mr Herzog, regardless of any claim to immunity he may make and for the reasons provided to them in the last three days.

The United Kingdom has a binding obligation under Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to "seek out and prosecute" those reasonably suspected of grave breaches when present in its territory. To refuse action against Herzog while citing dubious evidential grounds, without offering the required guidance, is not only a legal error by the CPS but is both shocking and dangerous, sending a message of impunity at a time when accountability is urgently needed.

HRF, ELSC and Stop the War Coalition have written again to the Police for an arrest decision and to the CPS requesting that it urgently reconsider its position and provide the guidance required by its own policies. They reaffirm their commitment to pursuing accountability for international crimes and will continue to work with legal partners to ensure that the rule of law is upheld.

Dyab Abou Jahjah, Chairman of the Hind Rajab Foundation, said: "History will not absolve the British authorities for failing to arrest Isaac Herzog. In doing so, the police have abandoned the Palestinian victims of genocide, organised starvation, and destruction in Gaza, and have placed themselves on the side of impunity rather than justice."

Lindsey German, the Convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, said: "It is quite astonishing that Herzog has been welcomed at the highest level of government in Downing Street and that he has not been arrested for war crimes. Millions of people in Britain are horrified at the genocidal actions of the Israeli government. We demand that the police and government act in accordance with international law. We also question delays over this while arrests of protesters have become a regular occurrence."

Anna Ost, Senior Legal Officer, European Legal Support Centre, said: "This is yet another example of UK institutions not only providing cover for, but actively enabling genocide. By refusing to act, the CPS is reinforcing a Western project of destruction in Gaza led by Israel, Britain, the US and Germany. At every stage, the UK has squandered historic opportunities to uphold its moral and legal obligations while Gaza is being erased. The CPS must not let this become another shameful failure in the face of overwhelming evidence."

Paul Heron, solicitor at the Public Interest Law Centre said: "The Government deliberately puts a hurdle in place insisting on the consent of the DPP before those suspected of war crimes can be arrested. It is now clear that this is being exploited by some to ensure that those demanding justice are silenced and those accused of aiding and abetting war crimes are not held to account."

Notes

The United Kingdom has a binding obligation under Article 146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention to "seek out and prosecute" those reasonably suspected of grave breaches when present in its territory. To refuse action against Herzog while citing dubious evidential grounds, without offering the required guidance, is not only a legal error by the CPS but is both shocking and dangerous, sending a message of impunity at a time when accountability is urgently needed.

HRF, ELSC and Stop the War Coalition have written again to the Police for an arrest decision and to the CPS requesting that it urgently reconsider its position and provide the guidance required by its own policies. They reaffirm their commitment to pursuing accountability for international crimes and will continue to work with legal partners and the Metropolitan Police War Crimes Team to ensure that the rule of law is upheld.

Workers' Weekly salutes the renowned Israeli conductor Ilan Volkov for speaking out at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall against Israeli crimes. Given the attempts, not least in cultural circles, by the Israeli-Zionist lobby to silence the voices of those who would speak out against such crimes and stand with Palestinians who are resisting these crimes, Ilan Volkov showed exemplary courage in following his conscience.

The conductor spoke from the podium on September 11 at the conclusion of a concert of the music of Brahms, Stravinsky and Gabrieli. His message was:

"Thank you all for sharing this amazing music together. It's a real privilege to be here every year with my friends the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

"In my heart there is great pain now, every day for months. I come from Israel and live there. I love it, it's my home but what's happening is atrocious and horrific in a scale that's unimaginable. I know that many of us feel completely helpless in front of it. Innocent Palestinians being killed in thousands, displaced again and again, without hospitals and schools, not knowing when's the next meal. Israeli hostages are kept in terrible conditions for almost two years and political prisoners are languishing in Israeli jails.

"Israelis-Jews and Palestinians won't be able to stop this alone. I ask you, I beg you all to do whatever is in your power to stop this madness. Every little action counts while governments hesitate and wait. We cannot let this go on any longer, every moment that passes puts the safety of millions in risk.

"Thank you."

The statement was met by tumultuous applause from the packed audience, including from the members of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra itself. This response shows the deep sentiment of broad sections of the people to end the genocide and affirm the Palestinians' right to be.

To one heckler, Ilan Volkov retorted, "You can go if you don't want politics. But politics is part of life."

After the concert, he announced that he will no longer perform in his own country in protest against the war in Gaza. And, in fact the conductor has previously boldly taken a stand in Israel itself. He has protested, along with many other concerned people, in the centre of Tel Aviv, with signs reading "GHF=death and starvation" and "Genocide Hunger Foundation". "They call it aid, but it's part of the machinery of extermination," said Volkov. "Every day they operate under this false humanitarian cover, more Palestinians die of hunger or are shot trying to survive. We refuse to let them hide in comfort while Gaza starves."

Jessica Duchen, writing in The Times, said: "Volkov is well known as a conductor for his collegiate approach, intellect and integrity." She adds: "Volkov built a strong career in the UK, becoming chief conductor of the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and later the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. His passion for contemporary music is reflected in the international festival he founded in 2012, Tectonics, held in Iceland and Glasgow." And she quotes the conductor: "What we have to do is have solidarity with each other. Work together. Listen to each other. ... The only way that I can contribute to a peaceful future is by actually standing with the Palestinians."

Bravo, Maestro Volkov!