The use of words like “genocide” in relation to conflict in the Middle East “undermines the seriousness of that term”, foreign secretary David Lammy has warned.
Lammy made his assessment after Conservative MP Nick Timothy raised concerns about the intimidation of British Jews by protesters “again this weekend” who repatedly used the term in chants outside the JW3 centre.
Timothy urged Lammy to take the opportunity to clarity to MPs that “there is not a genocide occuring in the Middle East.”
Nick Timothy MP
In response Lammy said:”These are quite properly legal terms that must be determined by international courts. But I do agree with the Honourable Gentleman.
“Those terms were largely used when millions of people lost their lives in crisis like Rwanda and the Second World War and the Holocaust. They way they are use now undermines the seriousness of that term.”
Timothy had earlier told MPs that he accepted that there was “much suffering” in Gaza, but that terminology like “genocide” was “not appropriate” and was “repeated by protesters and law breakers.”
David Lammy delivers Commons statement on Middle East
He berated those largely on the oppositiion benches, who choose to use the terms like “genocide” in relation to Gaza.
The exchange came after Zarah Sultana MP, who has lost the Labour whip and now sits as an independent, accused Israel of “genocidal assault in Gaza and Lebanon.”
When he spoke in the Commons on Monday the independent MP Shockat Adam also described Israel’s IDF as “Israeli Occupying Forces” in an apparent attempt to mimic the language of some of the Gaza protesters.
