Shanaz Saddique is one of a surge of pro-Palestinian candidates hoping to mobilise Muslim votes at Britain’s July 4 election by tapping into discontent over the two main political parties’ positions on the conflict in Gaza, Reuters reports.

Both the ruling Conservatives and the resurgent Labour party have said they want the fighting to stop, but have also backed Israel’s right to defend itself — angering some among the 3.9 million Muslims who make up 6.5 per cent of Britain’s population.

Few, if any, of the pro-Palestinian candidates running as independents or for non-mainstream parties will get elected to parliament, but “The Muslim Vote” campaign is looking to win enough votes to send a strong message to those who do.

“Gaza is … not about a political argument. It’s a human rights argument,” Saddique, who is running to be elected as a Member of Parliament for Oldham East and Saddleworth north of Manchester told Reuters. “We do not apologise for being the Gaza party.”

The Muslim Vote campaign is advising voters to pick pro-Palestine candidates running as independents or from smaller parties like the left-wing Workers Party, which has put up 152 candidates including Saddique.

The party’s outspoken leader George Galloway won a special election in March for a vacant parliamentary seat in Rochdale, a neighbouring town to Oldham, which also has a big Muslim population, after Labour withdrew support from its candidate over a recording espousing conspiracy theories about Israel.