Israel and Gaza

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Tuesday 27th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

On the hon. Lady’s first point, she is right about the degree of malnutrition, and that is why Britain is working closely with UNICEF and the World Food Programme. She set out the huge humanitarian consequences of a military attack on Rafah, and she will have seen what the Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and I have said about the dangers of that.

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

The possibility of an end to the killing—whatever we call it—brings hope in Gaza, Israel and, indeed, here, but I fear that divisions in our communities will remain. Many constituents have written to me upset at the difference they see in how Palestinian lives, Palestinian dignity and Islamophobia are valued in comparison with Israeli lives, Israeli dignity and antisemitism. Can the Minister go some way to perhaps addressing those concerns by condemning, for example, the Israeli Ministers and others who have ruled out a Palestinian state? Will he condemn the occupation, as well as settler violence? Will he condemn the Israeli soldiers who filmed themselves posing on the bicycles of dead Gazan children or rifling through the clothes of dead Gazan women?

[Mr Mitchell]

Let me make it clear, as the Prime Minister has, that in our country there is no tolerance whatever for antisemitism or Islamophobia. I reiterate that at the hon. Lady’s request across the Dispatch Box. She asked me about the importance of ensuring that all lives are treated equally and whether we care deeply about all those who are suffering in this conflict. Let me assure the House that we do.