Middle East

Lord Anderson of Swansea Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord and pay tribute to his experience and track record in this area. On the question of the practical help that we should be offering to Lebanon and the Lebanese army, I am very happy to accept his challenge. If there are practical things we can do, we should be doing them. That is absolutely right. I will take that back to the department and find out exactly what the situation is. That does not seem to me at all inconsistent with where the Government stand on this.

On the question of discussions with Israel, the noble Lord will know that in the current situation these things are extremely difficult. But we will keep talking to all the parties involved. We have a significant role in the various groups that have been set up around all these conflicts and we will continue to be part of that, including talking to Israel.

[Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)]

My Lords, does the Minister agree that no minority has contributed more positively to this country, in the past and now, than the Jewish community in our midst?

The Statement is one that I generally recognise and applaud, and it appears to have all-party support. But are we not in danger of ignoring the fact that Hezbollah is so intertwined within the communities in Lebanon that it is very difficult indeed to expect the Lebanese Government to launch a campaign against it? Should we not also recognise that there is no real prospect of Hamas decommissioning its weapons? That would be the end of Hamas. It is also unrealistic to expect the Israeli Cabinet, as currently constituted, to exert any real pressure on settler violence. These assumptions are all somewhat unrealistic.

[Lord Lemos (Lab)]

Let me try to deal with some of the points my noble friend has raised. Frankly, I would not want to single out a particular community as having made a greater contribution to this country than any other. But I absolutely recognise the contribution the Jewish community has made to this nation’s life, sometimes in the most difficult circumstances for that community. I stand absolutely four-square behind my own admiration for the Jewish community in Britain.

On Hezbollah and demilitarising, let me be absolutely clear. The Government do not think Hezbollah has any place in the future of Lebanon. That is our view. On decommissioning Hamas, our view is that we want to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian governance. That is why we have taken the steps we have to support the Palestinian Authority. We have given it £10 million this year. We want to deliver some basic services. We are funding 5,300 health professionals in Palestine. My noble friend Lord Barber—Michael Barber—is working there too.

The thing I really want to stress, in relation to what my noble friend Lord Anderson said, is the importance of civil society. When I travel in that region, many people in Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, and so on, do not share the views of their Governments and the various actors in the areas. Tomorrow, I am happy to say, the Foreign Secretary, along with Canada and Australia, will launch a peacebuilding fund that seeks to work specifically with civil society in Israeli and Palestinian communities. I greatly welcome that.