Transport for London (TfL) has responded after a video emerged on social media appearing to show a member of staff handing out pro-Palestine stickers. In a clip on X, a traveller is seen approaching the ticket barriers where a staff member is stood by the side. The caption overlaid on the video claims he heard the words "Free Palestine". He approaches one TfL worker appearing to hand out stickers, who tells him it's an "RMT thing", referring to the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, and explains it's to put up in windows.
Outrage online
The clip of the exchange sparked outrage online. Heidi Bachram, a campaigner whose Jewish family members were killed and taken hostage during the October 7 attacks against Israel, reposted the clip writing: "This looks like a member of staff on the London Underground giving out pro-Pal stickers to the public."
She added: "These spaces should not have divisive politics in them. I don’t want to be handed one of these by one of your employees. What is going on."
TfL response
A TfL spokesperson said: “We are aware of this video and are investigating the circumstances. TfL staff are bound by our code of conduct, which does not allow the wearing or handing out of political material.”
Tory peer and former MEP Baroness Foster also replied to the post, writing "@TfL need to get a grip !!" The RMT Union has been approached for comment.
Context of the conflict
The October 7, 2023, attack saw terror group Hamas murder some 1,200 people in southern Israel, abducting around 250 hostages, many of whom died in captivity in Gaza. In response, Israel launched bombardments of the Palestinian territory and a military operation in Gaza. Israeli attacks have reportedly killed more than 73,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children, and sparked international condemnation. Israel has been accused of war crimes, genocide by human rights organisations and of illegal occupation of Gaza by the Labour government, all of which it denies.
The issue has been the focus of deep divisions internationally, sparking large-scale protests and a spike in antisemitic attacks. At the Labour Party conference last week, the Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said: “The only route to peace is two states. A secure Israel and a secure Palestine, with freedom, dignity, and self-determination for both peoples. We all know how far away we are from that.”
He added: “I want to say to the millions of people in this country, and indeed elsewhere, who have been moved and outraged by the plight of the Palestinian people: we hear you, you were right. Under Andy’s leadership, we have reset our approach. We call out ethnic cleansing by the settler terrorists in the West Bank, we call out the evidence of war crimes in Gaza, we call out Israel’s illegal occupation of Gaza.”
