LABOUR-AFFILIATED unions are pushing for direct military intervention in Gaza as the time for diplomacy is over, Unison general secretary Christina McAnea revealed at TUC Congress today.

Ms McAnea, leader of Britain’s biggest union, called for a Kosovo-style intervention to “force the borders open” in Gaza and allow aid in to prevent war crimes.

Her calls were backed by National Education Union (NEU) executive member Louise Regan, while transport union leader Eddie Dempsey confirmed RMT members have taken “unofficial” action to prevent the movement of goods aiding Israel’s war efforts.

Ms McAnea said: “My union and a number of other unions are affiliated with the Labour Party.

“We have been trying to put as much pressure on the government as we can to shift government policy on some really key issues but genuinely it feels like that time has passed.

“While it is important that we get Palestine recognised … we need more than that now. 

“We are seeing war crimes being committed every single day, and it’s absolutely disgusting that we are still expected to wait for a diplomatic response.

“I have to see that the time for diplomacy is over now, we need much, much more direct action to stop this.

“And there are precedents for this, it’s happened in the past — if you look at what happened in Darfur, in Ethiopia, in Kosovo.

“There were direct intervention by international countries to go in and stop the slaughter.

“What we need to see happen in Palestine and Gaza now is direct intervention to get aid to get medical supplies to stop the wasteful and inefficient trying to drop minimum supplies by air — there are other ways we can force the borders open.

“This is beyond words now.”

Ms Regan, who is also national chair of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), said: “You are right, we are at a point where diplomacy is not the answer.

“If our government had done it sooner, thousands of Palestinians would still be alive.”

Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary Mr Dempsey said that he was often asked about his union’s role in the movement of goods around the rail and port networks.

He said: “What I say to my members, is don’t ask me, a trade union official, if you want unofficial action, crack on.

“That’s my view — I don’t know anything about it, on you go. And we have done it, and I don’t give a monkey who knows it.

“If any member of my union is threatened with disciplinary action because of their own conscience — they refuse to take a particular action because they believe it’s involved in the commission of genocide — my union will back them to the hilt.”

He also called for “concrete steps” towards a “reckoning” for government ministers complicit in the genocide.

“They must face accountability for their actions, and these are people at the top of the government,” he said.

“We must have a reckoning for the political class in this country. We are disgusted this is not the common position of all politicians, trade unionists and right-minded people in this country.”

Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union general secretary Fran Heathcote hit out at the banning of Palestine Action under terror laws, saying that the Labour government will go down in “ignominy” for overseeing the largest number of arrests of peaceful protesters in British history.

“Nobody can seriously they are — by any sane definition — terrorists on a par with those who committed atrocities,” she said.

She joined Aslef leader Mick Whelan and University and College Union (UCU) general secretary Jo Grady in blasting ministers for welcoming Israeli President Isaac Herzog to Downing Street this week, as Palestine Solidarity Action director Ben Jamal urged people to protest against the visit in London this Thursday.

Shaher Saed, general secretary of the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions, accused US President Donald Trump of “political prostitution” for suggesting building a “riviera” in Gaza.

He said: “This riviera would be built on the flesh and bones of those who were killed and buried under the rubble there.”

The Foreign Office was contacted for comment.