Oral Answers to Questions

Carol Monaghan Excerpts

Tuesday 12th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

11. What assessment he has made of recent increases in violence in the west bank.

[Carol Monaghan (Glasgow North West) (SNP)]

19. Whether officials in his Department have had discussions with their counterparts in Israel on the recent escalation of violence in the West Bank.

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Mr Andrew Mitchell)]

The Government have made it clear that settler violence and the targeting and, on occasions, killing of Palestinian civilians is completely unacceptable.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Mitchell]

On the point about settler violence, if that is what the hon. Gentleman is referring to, we believe that it is not good enough just to arrest those responsible. They need to be both prosecuted and imprisoned.

[Carol Monaghan]

The problem is that there are key figures in the Israeli Government who are stoking this violence, with the Finance Minister publicly declaring that there are “2 million Nazis” in the west bank. What representation is the Secretary of State making to Israeli counterparts to demand a far more robust response to this violence?

[Mr Mitchell]

I can tell the hon. Lady that the Prime Minister spoke about this directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 5 December and he made clear that we welcome Israel’s recent comments condemning instances of settler violence, but that Israel must take meaningful action to stop it.