Middle East

Lord Austin of Dudley Excerpts

Wednesday 10th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, if I may, it is completely naive of the Government to expect the Lebanese Government and armed forces to deal with Hezbollah. They are completely incapable of doing that and have been for years. The only people capable of dealing with Hezbollah are the IDF. If Israel does have the right to defend itself, and if we want to see peace, we should be supporting the Israelis in dealing with Hezbollah.

On this question of antisemitism, singling out Israel and holding it to standards not applied to other countries are clear examples of antisemitism under the official IHRA definition. This is already the second debate this week on Israel. Over the last few years, Parliament has discussed Israel more than any other issue—not just more than any international issue but more than any domestic issue, including the economy, unemployment, crime or the NHS. The public out there look at Parliament and think this is utterly mad. Do the Government and Parliament not understand that singling out the world’s only Jewish state, holding it to standards not applied to anywhere else, and falsely accusing Israel of committing these terrible crimes is bound to drive hostility towards people who are identified with Israel, which is the vast majority of the Jewish community? This is why I believe Parliament is playing a large role in driving the explosion of antisemitism that we have seen on the streets of Britain.

[Lord Swire (Con)]

My Lords, if the Government—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Mohammed of Tinsley (LD)]

My Lords—

[Lord Austin of Dudley (Non-Afl)]

We want to hear from the noble Baroness, Lady Foster.

[Baroness Wheeler (Lab)]

My Lords, we will hear from the Lib Dems.