Politics
Government rules out expelling Israeli ambassador but says ‘she’s not to our taste politically’
Labour MPs overwhelmingly spoke critically of Israel in Parliament yesterday
January 8, 2025 11:30
Labour MPs overwhelmingly spoke critically of Israel in Parliament yesterday
January 8, 2025 11:30Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer appeared to describe Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom Tzipi Hotovely as not “our taste politically”.
Falconer was responding to a debate in Parliament on Tuesday regarding Israel’s military operation in northern Gaza.
John McDonnell MP, who served as Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow chancellor and is currently suspended by Labour, said that the government ought to take “a leading role in that isolation of Israel to bring it to some form of negotiated settlement”.
He added: “One thing that grates with me in particular is that we have an Israeli ambassador who is an advocate of a ‘Greater Israel,’ refuses to recognise the Palestinian state... Why are we not expelling the Israeli ambassador?”
Falconer rejected McDonnell’s call but said: “It is tempting to think that, if only we had representatives who were more to our taste politically, things would be easier.”
He continued: “There is a clear disagreement between the British and Israeli governments about the conduct of the war in Gaza and the humanitarian implications that flow from it. We will continue to make that disagreement clear through all channels”.
Also in the debate, Falconer refused to endorse the claim by Adnan Hussain, Independent MP for Blackburn elected on a pro-Gaza platform, to describe Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza as “genocidal”.
Hussain claimed that: “The scale of destruction in northern Gaza has now been described as much worse than that in the aftermath of Hiroshima”.
The Middle East Minister responded by saying: “Determinations of genocide and war crimes are properly matters for international courts and, as the House knows, there is an international court process on that question, so I will not comment further on determination questions.”
Labour MPs who spoke in the debate were overwhelmingly critical of Israel. Toby Perkins, who served on Sir Keir Starmer’s front bench in opposition last year, said that “Israel’s conduct in this war is not just an attack on the people of Palestine; it is an attack on the international rules-based approach, the international community and the United Nations.”
Of the 29 Labour MPs that spoke in the debate, only one, Labour Friends of Israel chair Jon Pearce, did not make some sort of criticism of Israel.
He instead raised the “footage of Israeli hostage Liri Albag”, one of the five female Israel Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers who were kidnapped from her base at Nahal Oz, which Hamas released footage of on Saturday.
“The hostage families, including Mandy Damari, the mother of British national Emily Damari, are campaigning day and night for the ICRC and other humanitarian organisations to have access to the remaining hostages, but Hamas are refusing”, Pearce said.
The Minister condemned “both Hamas’s refusal to release the hostages, with British nationals and UK-linked persons among them, and the lack of access for the ICRC and other medical agencies.”
Last year, the JC revealed that in the year since October 7, 2023, Parliament has spent more time talking about Israel than the NHS.
One Labour source expressed frustration at the fixation of some MPs on the Jewish state: "Once again there's another Commons debate on Israel which produces lots of heat but very little light.
They continued: “These spectacles do absolutely nothing to help end the war and simply provide an opportunity for the usual suspects to stand up and berate the world's only Jewish state. Where is the demand for Hamas to lay down its arms and release the hostages?"