King’s Speech

Lord Dubs Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Dubs (Lab)]

My Lords, it is a privilege to take part in this debate, and I have learned a great deal from many of the contributions that have been made—I hope I am a wiser person as a result. I want to talk about two topics: the movement of people throughout the world and the effect it will have on this country and on western Europe; and something about the Middle East, Palestine and Israel.

I cannot claim to speak about defence. I will just say in passing that about 20 or more years ago, I was invited as part of a delegation of Members of this House and of the Commons to visit Afghanistan, and we went to Camp Bastion and Kandahar. It was a very informative and interesting experience to see the British Army in action in very dangerous circumstances.

We must expect more movements of people, whether driven by climate change, poverty, or war and persecution, and we ought to be ready for that. The movements will increase; they are not going to be stopped, or not easily. We have to look at the tragedy in Lebanon. I grieve for that country and what it is going through—I have been there a few times, although not very recently. It is suffering enormously, and I have to say that there will come a time when many Lebanese will have to flee as their country is being bombed and attacked by the Israelis.

I am pleased that we did not succumb to Trump’s blandishments to join him in attacking Iran. It is America’s war, not our war. We have supported the Americans in Afghanistan and in other countries, but this was not an occasion for us to get involved. I think it will be a long time before the world recovers from the tragedy of what the Americans are doing there.

Then we have the tragedy in the Horn of Africa, not just in Sudan but in the DRC. Again, people are suffering there and many are on the move. There is the almost forgotten situation of a million Rohingyas who fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh. I visited Cox’s Bazar some years ago and there were about 100,000 people there, but now there are a million and Bangladesh is getting very little help. Some of the Rohingyas are fleeing to neighbouring countries, but nobody is giving them much help.

On Israel, I am as opposed to antisemitism as anybody, partly from my own personal history, but to suggest that criticism of Israel is somehow antisemitic is a departure from the truth. The noble Lord who said that is not here now, but I find it very upsetting when people suggest that. Some years ago I had a conversation with a previous Israeli ambassador to London, who said to me, “Of course you can criticise Israel—they do it in the Knesset all the time”. It is unhealthy to think that we are antisemitic because we say that what the Israeli Government are doing is unacceptable, which I believe it is.

Yes, there was a dreadful tragedy in Israel on 7 October. The Hamas attack was appalling, and we all send our sympathies to the Israelis, the people who were held hostage and the families of those who suffered. But that is not the only tragedy in the region, and it has been made much worse by the response of the Israelis. We recently saw on our television screens the people who came on the flotilla. That was a fairly peaceful exercise to bring aid to Gaza. But after an Israeli Minister delighted in seeing people handcuffed on their knees and humiliated, without having committed any criminal offence, and said, “This is to teach them”, even Prime Minister Netanyahu had to say that was not in the best traditions of Israel, and that Minister was rightly condemned by our Foreign Secretary.

I was delighted when this country recognised the State of Palestine—not because that recognition in itself solves anything but because it is a necessary stage on the way to having a two-state solution. I was very happy to be outside what became the Palestinian embassy when it celebrated becoming a Palestinian state. It is absolutely necessary for there to be a two-state solution.

The growth of settlements is damaging the chance of a two-state solution. There are 102 illegal settlements on the West Bank and the threat of more settlements through E1, which will divide Palestine into two separate parts and make a Palestinian state even more difficult to achieve. We have to take action against any British companies that want to have contracts to build E1 and to make sure they know that there will be sanctions against them if they go ahead. The Prime Minister has said that the 1967 occupation is unlawful, as advised by the ICJ. That should be fundamental to our approach. There should be consequences. There should be no UK trade in goods and services with settlements. We should suspend the bilateral trade partnership. This is all based on there being international co-operation.

I shudder at the thought that the Israeli Government are introducing a death penalty only for Palestinians. They have denied access to Palestinian prisons in Israel as NGOs have denied access to Gaza. What is happening is a tragedy. We have to say to the Israeli Government, “You’ve got to stop. The tragedy of 7 October does not justify what you are doing now”.