A former Conservative cabinet minister has claimed the government should be “ashamed” over its response to Israeli attacks on Palestinians.
Ex-cabinet minister Kit Malthouse said “millions of people in this country and around the world believe there is an inherent racism at the heart of British foreign policy in this regard.”
He continued:”That says that Palestinian lives matter much less than any other lives, or indeed than Israeli lives.”
Addressing Middle East minister Hamish Falconer and Foreign Office minister Anneliese Dodds next to him in the Commons, he added: “If he is ashamed… why are they hanging on to their red folders? Why aren’t they standing down and compelling the Government to actually do something active and physical to save these lives?”
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran also asked the Government as she called for an end to arms sales to Israel and recognise a Palestinian state.
She told the Commons on Tuesday: “People in Gaza are trapped in a doom loop of hell. Hospitals decimated, ceasefires promised and never delivered. And so I press the Government again, is this really everything the UK has got?
“Have we deployed everything to make this stop? When will we recognise Palestine? Why haven’t we stopped arms trade to Israel? And when will the Government ban trading with illegal settlements? The frustration is palpable. Our grief is fathomless. People across the UK are looking on in horror, and the horror in Gaza must stop now.”
Layla Moran moves motion on Israel/Gaza at Lib dem conference
On allegations of mistreatment of Palestinians, Malthouse, a former Education Secretary and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster said:”“I was going to ask about the fate of Dr Abu Safiya, but I think we all know what’s going to happen to him.
“I was going to ask about the freezing babies, the babies that are freezing to death while blankets are being denied entry into Gaza, but I don’t think we are going to be doing much about that. Or indeed the denial of access for cancer medication, anaesthetic, or crutches or the bombing of every single hospital.”
“The minister said he and his team are frustrated. But given the partial application of international law and the Government’s unwillingness to take any significant steps to either compel the imposition of the ceasefire, or compliance with international law, rather than frustrated, isn’t he ashamed? ”
Banging his hand on the despatch box, Foreign Office minister Falconer responded saying: “There are places I will take lessons about shame, but it is not from the benches opposite me, particularly not on this issue.
“If the benches opposite me want to give me a hard time about what is being done in relation to the people in Gaza, I would turn to your own record, whether it is in relation to aid into Gaza, whether it’s in relation to the ICC, the ICJ.
“These are sober issues, we deal with them with the sobriety that they require, and I would particularly from the opposite benches appreciate questions of that tone.”
Hamish Falconer speaking in the Commons chamber
During an urgent question on the situation in northern Gaza, he told MPs: “The UK condemns Israel’s restriction on aid in the strongest terms. The scale of human suffering is unimaginable. We have been clear this is a man-made crisis, and Israel must act immediately to address it.”
He added: “Air strikes within the designated humanitarian zone show there are no safe spaces left for civilians. Reports of up to eight children having died from cold weather conditions are unconscionable.
“It is unacceptable that many medical facilities are no longer in use or are inaccessible to humanitarian actors and we remain deeply concerned by reports of medics being killed or injured. I have raised this, and will continue to raise this with both the Israeli deputy foreign minister and Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.”
Following shouts of “they don’t care” from opposition benches, Falconer said: “The Foreign Secretary, working with his French and German counterparts, wrote to the government of Israel in November to press them to ensure adequate preparations for winter.”
John McDonnell, who had the Labour whip suspended last year for backing an SNP motion on welfare policy, told the Commons: “The only solution that we’ve had in the past is a total isolation of a country – economically and militarily – to prevent them performing war crimes in the way Israel has.
“I think this Government could take a leading role in that isolation of Israel to bring it some form of negotiated settlement, but can I just say one thing that grates with me in particular? It’s that we have an Israeli ambassador who’s an advocate of ‘Greater Israel’, refuses to recognise the Palestinian state, defies all the UN resolutions that have been passed about how we can secure that peace, and she still remains in this country. Why aren’t we expelling the Israeli ambassador?”
Falconer replied: “It is tempting to think that, if only we had representatives more to our tastes politically, then things would be easier”.
