Violence in Israel and Palestine

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Thursday 13th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

The UK remains resolute in its commitment to Israel’s security. We utterly condemn Hamas’s indiscriminate and abhorrent rocket attacks, as I say. Israel has a legitimate right to self-defence. In using it, it is vital that all actions it takes are proportionate, are in line with international humanitarian law and avoid civilian casualties.

[Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, how can terrorists import thousands of Iranian rockets but Israel be blamed for a lack of food or medicine? How can anyone believe that Hamas wants peace when it is committed to Israel’s destruction, with no regard whatever for innocent life? Hamas is exploiting the PA’s weakness after it cancelled elections, a century-old legal dispute about four houses, and violence in Jerusalem to provoke this crisis. Does the Minister agree that there is no equivalence between terrorists raining down rockets on civilians and a legitimate, democratic Government defending itself?

[Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay (Con)]

Hamas’s military wing, as the noble Lord will know, has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK since 2001. The UK retains a policy of no contact with Hamas in its entirety. The UK unequivocally and strongly condemns the firing of rockets into Israel. We want them to stop, and we want a permanent end to this incitement and rocket fire, and a de-escalation of the situation today.