Palestinian ambassador to speak at Durham Miners Gala 2025
The Durham Miners Association has shared that Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK will be in attendance at the event and will speak on the platform at Durham racecourse.
Dr Zomlot has been the ambassador for the Middle East country since 2018 and previously served as the nation’s ambassador to the United States of America.
The 139th gala is set to take place on the traditional second Saturday of July, which this year falls on July 12.
“The Palestinian national tragedy is made up of thousands, millions of personal tragedies,” the DMA said.
(Image: Palestinian Embassy) “We welcome Ambassador Zomlot knowing that, last year, eight members of his family, including his wife’s seven-year-old cousin Sidra Hassouna, were killed in an Israeli air strike, and that the Israeli armed forces have completely destroyed his home town of Rafah in Gaza.
“To him, his family and his people we say: the Durham Miners’ Association will always stand by you.”
And the group has rejected any argument that they are siding with terrorist group Hamas, saying: “We do not accept that by opposing the genocide we are somehow siding with Hamas.
Durham Miners Gala 2024. (Image: NORTHERN ECHO) “This accusation is not only thrown at everyone who calls for a ceasefire. It was also thrown at the UK, French and Canadian governments when they called for the bombing to stop and humanitarian aid to be restored. Netanyahu [Israeli Prime Minister] claimed they also were siding with Hamas.”
It comes after a bitter war of words between the DMA and newly elected Reform council leaders following the organisers’ decision to not invite Reform politicians to share the platform at the event.
Accusing the DMA of acting in a ‘petty’ and ‘spiteful’ way, Cllr Darren Grimes said: “No gatekeeper in a flat cap that is cosplaying Durham miners of the past is going to rewrite who counts as ‘working class’ here in Durham.”
“Everyone in Durham is welcome at the Gala,” organisers of the event said.
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“But we invite on to the platform, and as guests at the DMA’s social events, some of our many friends who share our beliefs in community, in the labour movement and in social justice.
“The Reform UK councillors do not.”
Prior to the election, the DMA launched a scathing attack on Nigel Farage’s party, saying that despite Labour’s ‘disappointing’ stint in government, Reform were ‘not on the side’ of ex-mining communities.