Israel/Gaza

Lord Collins of Highbury Excerpts

Tuesday 24th October 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, I too pay tribute to the noble Lord, Lord Ahmad, not only for his incredibly moving and powerful introduction to this debate but for all the work that he undertakes in the FCDO in the cause of justice and peace across the globe. Not for the first time, he and I are absolutely at one on this issue; there is no difference between us. I have been shadowing him for many years now and it is incredible how, with events in the world, we have become closer. I hope that is a good sign for the future, too.

As Keir Starmer said yesterday, the brutal attack in Israel just over two weeks ago was the darkest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust. The horror and suffering caused is seared into memories with images of the dead and dying that can never be unseen. As we have heard in this debate, despite those events two weeks ago, Israel is still under attack, with rockets still being fired over it and launched against it. Israel has the right and, indeed, the duty to bring home all hostages being held by Hamas and to weaken the capabilities which made Black Saturday possible. A military response from Israel is justified in these circumstances, and it must be within those sacred parameters of international law and the protection of human life. As Keir Starmer has said:

“We democracies know that all human life is equal. Innocent lives must be protected. These are the principles that differentiate us from the terrorists who target Israel”.—[Official Report, Commons, 23/10/23; col. 593.]


As noble Lords have mentioned, at the weekend we saw the release of two American hostages, and last night saw the release of Nurit Cooper and Yocheved Lifschitz, but their husbands are still being held as hostages. Oded—Yocheved’s husband—is a journalist who, for decades, has worked for peace and the rights of Palestinians. When I spoke to the NUJ, it said that in 1972 he defended the rights of Bedouin people who were expelled from their homes in the Rafah area, south of Gaza. In May, I visited that area and met Bedouins who had been expelled from their homes. I also met Israelis who were absolutely determined to build communities together and secure peace. A very shocking thing is that Hamas attacked those people, and particularly the young people who were the future for peace. It is outrageous, but we should not let that hinder our determination to seek peace.

My noble friend Lady Smith met Yocheved’s daughter last week; my noble friend said that she bore her fear and pain with dignity that only served to emphasise the depth of her emotions. I heard her on Radio 4’s “Today” programme this morning. It was absolutely powerful testimony. She spoke about talking to her mother, who was “very sharp” and “keen to share information”. Of course, speaking later to the media from a hospital in Tel Aviv, Yocheved described how she was kidnapped by Hamas gunmen on motorbikes, hit with sticks and taken into a “spider’s web” of underground tunnels. She said:

“I went through hell that I could not have known”.


The release of four hostages is, of course, welcome, but what we must do and must support and must ensure is the unconditional release of all of those hostages.

As we have heard in the debate, Gaza is facing a humanitarian emergency and innocent civilians are terrified for their lives. We have seen children forced to flee their homes, clean water running out and hospitals barely able to function. Certainly, we welcome President Biden’s initiative and the US-led diplomacy that brokered the agreement for a few dozen trucks carrying life-saving humanitarian aid to cross into the Gaza Strip. The Minister mentioned the numbers: 20 on Saturday, 14 on Sunday and, tonight, we are up to 50 trucks getting through; but that is simply not enough.

Gaza is a city the size of Birmingham; a place where, even before this devastation, life was a struggle, as my noble friend Lord Reid illustrated so well. Of course, those 50 trucks are welcome progress, but, as I said, not nearly enough. The UK Government must do everything in their power, working with partners, to get food, water, medicine and fuel to help those innocent citizens. I welcome the Minister’s announcement —and welcomed the PM’s announcement—of a doubling of support; but the EU has announced a tripling of support. As the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, said, there is no doubt that we need to up that support over the coming days and weeks. I hope the Minister can reassure the House that that will be done.

We must also follow the US example by appointing a UK special co-ordinator for international aid to Gaza. As the Minister said, the FCDO has amazing expertise within it. We should ensure that British experts and medical support teams are deployed immediately, as well as working with international partners to give UN agencies such as UNRWA the long-term resources they need and insisting that fuel is allowed into Gaza.

When I was in the West Bank in May, I met UNWRA officials. As the noble Lord, Lord Purvis, said, UNRWA had been run down in respect of funding and support over a number of years, and that has impacted hugely on its ability to provide necessary support in this crisis. I welcome the action that the Minister has highlighted tonight. I also echo the call made by the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of Canterbury for humanitarian corridors and humanitarian access. There must be proper protection for all those who work selflessly so that aid can be delivered to victims.

The simple fact is that, if Hamas had a single concern for the safety of Palestinian people, it would never have taken hostages. The responsibility for this crisis lies with Hamas and nobody else. The scenes of hundreds killed at the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist hospital are devastating and cannot be justified. As we have heard tonight, we know who was responsible for that. Hospitals and civilian lives must be protected. We all have a duty to act responsibly and judiciously, as the facts are determined.

I stress that I also agree absolutely with the most reverend Primate the Archbishop of York that we must not allow these tragic events to divide our communities. As we have heard in the debate, the Community Security Trust and the Metropolitan Police have reported a steep increase in anti-Semitic incidents in recent days, including abuse and assaults. Tell MAMA has reported a tripling of cases for its services, including reports of anti-Muslim threats, abuse and assaults. We must denounce hate crime in the strongest terms. We are in touch with the police, the CST and Tell MAMA, which are co-ordinating the response to such threats. We expect to see a robust response to all incidents of hate associated with the conflict and call on Government to support these groups, and to play their part in preventing an escalation of tensions. There is absolutely no place in Britain for anti-Semitic hate or Islamophobia.

I also share the concern that has been highlighted that such divisions and hatred can spread. I share the most reverend Primate’s concern about the escalation of violence in the West Bank, too. We should focus on that to try to ensure that peace can return and that communities can work together.

The Minister—perhaps this is one area where I will have a bit of a pop at him—is aware I have consistently called, along with other noble Lords, for the proscription of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Labour’s shadow Foreign Secretary and shadow Home Secretary had called for this last January. As we have heard in the debate, my noble friend Lord Coaker moved an amendment to the National Security Act to that effect. I hope that we will see some action. Over the weekend, the media reported that the US is now pressuring the UK to proscribe the group over its complicity in supporting Hamas. I hope that the Minister can give a clear indication tonight that the Government will finally act to proscribe this organisation.

Another issue brought up in the debate has been that in the fog of this war, disinformation is flooding social media. What are the Government doing to ensure that social media companies act responsibly to limit toxic and dangerous disinformation? As the noble Lord, Lord Wolfson, said, loose talk endangers lives.

The biggest risk of this war is that it could deepen into a wider regional conflict. That would be disastrous for the Middle East as well as the wider world. The Minister mentioned in his introduction the discussions taking place with allies to ensure containment and de-escalation. I hope that in his response, he can give a little more detail about those discussions and how they are progressing.

I also welcome what the Minister said about support for British nationals who have been trapped in Gaza since the outbreak of this war. During his trip to the Middle East, the Prime Minister met the Egyptian president, President al-Sisi, and talked of progress in that regard. I hope that the Minister can again give us more detail about how we can support UK nationals trying to leave Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

Hamas wants the chaos of war, which is why it has committed this outrageous act. Hamas wants Jews to suffer. Hamas wants the Palestinian people to share in the pain. That is because, as my noble friend Lord Turnberg said, the Palestinian people are not its cause. Peace is not its aim. The dignity of human life, Jew or Muslim, means absolutely nothing to Hamas. So that nobody needs to suffer like this again, as my noble friend Lord Mendelsohn said, Hamas must be defeated so that we might once more see a road to a lasting peace. As the Minister said, there should be a Palestinian state alongside a safe and secure Israel. For too long, we have allowed welcome progress in improving relations between Israel and her neighbours to sit without any progress on a future for Palestine and its people. This must change.

We stand with Israel and its right to defend itself. We stand against the terrorists of Hamas, who must release the hostages. We stand for international law and the protection of innocent lives and, together with the Government, we stand absolutely for a political path to peace.