However, Pollard also voiced disappointment at the recent resumption of hostilities between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, saying that “the reported civilian casualties resulting from Israel’s actions are appalling.”
The MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport was also challenged on the government’s position when it came to Israeli breaches of international law and responded that “Israel’s actions in Gaza are at clear risk of breaching international humanitarian law, and we will continue to raise our concerns with Israel.”
On Monday Foreign Secretary David Lammy told MPs twice that Israel had broken international law, only to be contradicted by Downing Street the following day.
On Tuesday evening, Lammy appeared to row back from his original comments, telling Bloomberg that: “Ultimately of course these are matters for the courts to determine but it’s difficult to see how denying humanitarian assistance to a civilian population can be compatible with international humanitarian law”.
The largely cordial debate in Westminster Hall yesterday was organised by Leicester South MP Shockat Adam – an independent MP elected on a pro-Gaza platform last year – who criticised the defence relationship between Israel and the UK.
“The ICJ (International Court of Justice) has ruled that the occupation is illegal and warned that Israel’s actions in Gaza may constitute genocide. Under international law, the UK has an obligation not only to refrain from facilitating those crimes but to prevent them actively. Yet despite that duty, our country continues to engage in military co-operation with Israel. The question before us is very clear: are we upholding the rule of law?”, the Leicester South MP said.
Leicester South MP Shockat Adam (Image: Parliament TV).[Missing Credit]
Adam also wanted to know whether “our intelligence been used to conduct air strikes? If so, under article 25 of the Rome statute, is the UK now legally complicit in war crimes?”
He agreed with an intervention from fellow independent MP – Blackburn’s Adnan Hussain – who said that “allying with Israel while it carries out a genocide will bring about the end of the international world order as we know it”.
Several other MPs, including Labour representatives, backed calls for an arms embargo on Israel.
Birmingham Hall Green MP Tahir Ali said he thought the government should take “action to stop selling arms so that international law is not broken any further.”
Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesborough and Thornaby East, questioned why the government had exempted the F-35 fighter jet from their partial arms embargo announced last year.
“Despite the partial suspension of arms export licences to Israel, the government left a deliberate loophole in place, allowing the export of F-35 parts to Israel via the global spare parts pool. In addition, the government have issued at least a further 34 arms export licences to Israel since the original suspension – more than they originally blocked.”
Other MPs spoke out in favour of Israel’s right to defend itself in the face of Hamas’s terrorism and wider threats in the region.
Democratic Unionist Party MP Jim Shannon told MPs that: “When people know where they stand and that the scorpion can sting, they protect themselves, which is what Israel does. Hamas can do nothing other than hate Israel and seek her eradication, and I would never support calls for Israel not to have the means to defend herself, as she rightly does.”
Labour MP for North Durham Luke Akehurst – who throughout the debate made several critical interventions during speeches by MPs who demanded tougher action against Israel – underscored the importance of UK-Israel defence ties.
Luke Akehurst, Labour MP for North Durham Luke Akehurst (Image: Parliament TV)[Missing Credit]
“British troops have been kept safe thanks to co-operation with Israel’s cutting-edge defence sector, particularly in unmanned aerial vehicles, missile defence and radar systems”, the former director of campaign group We Believe in Israel said.
“The UK and Israel’s defence co-operation strengthens our international alliances, most obviously through the F-35 programme, which some other honourable Members have rather maligned today, but which has created more than 20,000 jobs in the UK”, he added.
Akehurst also made the point of saying that “military co-operation with Israel brings benefits to civilian populations in the Middle East – Israeli and Palestinian. Last year, when Iran launched unprecedented ballistic missile attacks against Israel, which could have killed Palestinians as well as Israelis, British jets and intelligence played their role in shooting them down, saving Israeli and Palestinian lives and avoiding a huge escalation that could have brought all-out war across the region.”
Speaking for the opposition, shadow defence minister Mark Francois told MPs that it was “necessary to retain a viable defence manufacturing base in the United Kingdom, both for strategic reasons and because the defence industry plays a vital role in ensuring the nation’s prosperity.”
