Debates between Bernard Jenkin and Hamish Falconer during the 2024 Parliament

Mon 25th Nov 2024

Israel-Gaza Conflict: Arrest Warrants

Debate between Bernard Jenkin and Hamish Falconer
Monday 25th November 2024

(4 weeks ago)

Commons Chamber
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Hamish Falconer Portrait Hamish Falconer
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I will not rehearse too much the answers provided on 2 September and on numerous occasions in the Chamber since then. We have suspended, with one exemption—to which I am happy to return—all the arms that we are selling to Israel that could be used in Gaza. That suspension, in our assessment, also covers the west bank and Lebanon. We are taking action in accordance with our commitments under international humanitarian law, and we will continue to do so.

Bernard Jenkin Portrait Sir Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex) (Con)
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Can we be absolutely clear about what the Government are saying? It seems that the Government are not saying that there would be an automatic arrest should Benjamin Netanyahu arrive in this country, but they are saying that there would due process. Can the Minister confirm that

“customary international law…does not permit the arrest or delivery of the serving Prime Minister of a non-State party to the ICC”?

So the Minister is committing himself to due process but not to arrest. Am I correct in my understanding?