Israel and Palestine

Lord Hannay of Chiswick Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kerr of Kinlochard (CB)]

My Lords—

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB)]

My Lords—

[Noble Lords]

Shinkwin!

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Wood of Anfield (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for those questions. He is absolutely right that the cause of the overwhelming majority of decent Palestinians has been neglected for too long. I hope this starts to correct some of that. On global human rights reforms, we are beefing up the existing regime—by the way, this is a universal regime rather than targeted on specific countries—to include not just those who abuse human rights but those who violate international humanitarian law in Palestine and throughout the world. That does not stop us using existing global human rights regimes to target individual settlers. That is why five individuals were targeted yesterday.

[Lord Hannay of Chiswick (CB)]

My Lords, do the Government consider that the Government of Israel have the right to order us to close the consulate in east Jerusalem, given that it is situated in east Jerusalem, which is recognised by the United Nations and practically all its members as being occupied Palestinian territory over which Israel does not have sovereignty? Can he say whether we are going to contest the attempt to order us to close the consulate, which is both disproportionate and ultra vires?