Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues

Baroness Deech Excerpts

Tuesday 20th October 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for that question and for the work that he did as special envoy. I wonder if it might be helpful if he came along to the briefing as well, because it is important to show the continuity between the work that he did and the work that Jon Pearce is doing as the current special envoy. The noble Lord makes an important point. I emphasise again that the special envoy recently agreed a co-ordinated approach to Holocaust-era restitution in Poland with his US counterpart. He also raised the issue directly with the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw. With international partners—it is important that that is how we do this—we continue to press Poland to confront this historic injustice and deliver a fair, comprehensive and final settlement of outstanding restitution claims.

[Baroness Deech (CB)]

My Lords, Poland has been an outlier in this for many decades. One feels that it is waiting for everyone to die so it can avoid making restitution. I encourage the Minister to take this issue to the Council of Europe, which is the best forum for this. It should be proposed to Poland that it allow litigation outside Poland, provide access to relevant records, establish a central fund as other countries have done to pay at least partial compensation and preserve the memory of the dispossessed by placing Stolpersteine outside their former homes. It has so far refused to do this, in an attempt to obliterate the memory, as I have seen there for myself.

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question and her long-standing campaigning on this issue. I know how deeply she feels about it. The special envoy has already been looking at some of the issues she has raised, but I will have further discussions with him about her point on the Council of Europe. Obviously, there are parliamentary delegations to that, so she may wish to raise it with representatives from this House who are on the Council of Europe too.

Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor: Citizenship

Baroness Deech Excerpts

Thursday 17th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)]

I start by wishing the noble Lord and all other Jewish Members of our Chamber a happy new year. He is right that Israel, for example, is a signatory to both the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, as we are. I note that the Israeli Prime Minister last night made remarks about possible future legislation, but we do not comment on that; we will see what transpires. The noble Lord is also completely right that there is a venerable and admirable tradition of robust free speech and exchange, and we hope that that tradition remains in place.

[Baroness Deech (CB)]

My Lords, I hope the Minister will agree that it is indeed inappropriate to focus on a state where there is a stringent judicial process—we do not want discrimination. On the international front, things are even worse. In a few days’ time, the United Nations Durban conference will be marking the 25th anniversary of the World Conference against Racism, which turned out to be an antisemitism and anti-Israel conference. Can the Minister confirm—because I have written to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister about this—that Britain will not participate in the upcoming Durban conference?

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for that. I will have to return on the question of participation in future conferences. On the broader question of government action on antisemitism, I explained in the House last week that over £300 million has been committed to attacking and addressing antisemitism at home. Antisemitism is unacceptable. It is a scourge of any society, especially democratic society. At UNGA, in our upcoming event hosted by the Foreign Secretary in New York, we are going to focus more on this, and there will be more to say from the Government in due course on antisemitism.

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe

Baroness Deech Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Deech (CB)]

My Lords, the Council of Europe remains one of the fora which is shared by Britain and Poland. Will the Minister please suggest to our delegation that the council puts on its agenda Poland’s breach for 75 years of the need to restore property that was stolen from Jewish and indeed non-Jewish victims in the Second World War? If they will not pay compensation, will they at least display a commemorative plaque?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

I am sure that the leader of our delegation, the noble Lord, Lord Touhig, was listening closely to what the noble Baroness said. To remind noble Lords, the Council of Europe came out of the Second World War. The founding of the institution was led by Churchill and Bevin. We are very proud to be members of it, and the priority that it places on the rule of law and securing human rights is something that we can justifiably be proud of.

Israel: Arms Sales

Baroness Deech Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

This decision came at the conclusion of a process which the Foreign Secretary initiated upon his appointment, where a review was commenced. The earliest opportunity to make both Houses aware of the conclusion of that review was on the first day we returned, earlier this week, and that is the reason for the timing of the announcement.

[Baroness Deech (CB)]

My Lords, yesterday the House debated a new Holocaust learning centre in Westminster and much was made of the vacuous statement “never again”. Today we hear of support for arms for Ukraine. We supply them to Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other countries that kill their opponents. Why do the Government undermine protection for a state that needs them for self-defence to combat murderous terrorists whose avowed aim is to kill Jews? Has she read the American book? Everyone loves dead Jews; the living, not so much.

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

My Lords, the UK remains and will always be committed to supporting Israel’s security and wider regional stability. The Foreign Secretary reaffirmed this with his Israeli counterparts on a recent visit to Tel Aviv on 19 August with the French Foreign Minister, and our position has not changed in this respect. We continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself and to take action against terrorism, provided it does so in accordance with international law.