India-Pakistan: Escalation

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

We have some of the toughest arms export rules in the world, and they will be fully adhered to in this case. I do not intend to make further announcements from the Dispatch Box about that regime now, but I am sure that in due course I can return to the House to provide a further update.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

Ten days ago, this House stood united in condemning the attacks on civilians on both sides of the conflict, yet since then, the violence has tragically escalated, with more innocent lives lost overnight as a result of an Indian attack on civilians in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir. While we all want to see an immediate de-escalation of military action to prevent further loss of life, does the Minister agree that lasting peace in the region cannot be achieved until the core issue of Kashmir is resolved and the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination under the UN resolution is recognised and upheld?

[Mr Falconer]

I recognise my hon. Friend’s long advocacy on these questions. Today we are calling for de-escalation, and our position on Kashmir remains unchanged. I am sure I will return to this House to discuss the longer-term issues between India and Pakistan in the fullness of time.

Middle East Update

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Tuesday 6th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

The hon. Gentleman talks about the importance of independence and impartiality, which are exactly the principles that should be guiding the humanitarian operation in Gaza. He is absolutely right that Hamas must not be diverting aid for their own financial gain or using civilian infrastructure for military purposes. The best way to ensure that is to open up Gaza and allow the aid agencies in to operate effectively.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

The Israeli Government have publicly declared their intent to occupy Gaza indefinitely, and are systematically denying Gaza’s entire population access to the most basic needs for sustaining human survival. This is a war crime, so does the Minister agree that, alongside France, the UK Government must urgently recognise the state of Palestine at the United Nations conference on the two-state solution in June?

[Mr Falconer]

I reassure my hon. Friend that we want to make our full contribution in moving a two-state solution forward, and of course, we are in touch with all key regional partners in the run-up to the June conference.

Kashmir: Increasing Tension

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving me the opportunity to cast away any doubt there might be. We stand with India in the face of this horrific attack. We have, at the very highest levels, been in direct contact with the Indian Government. This is an absolutely atrocious incident and they have our support in trying to bring the perpetrators to justice. If he will forgive me, I will leave it to the Minister responsible for India to provide an update in the House in slower time on the state of our relationship. It continues to grow from strength to strength.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

In light of the recent tragic attack on civilians in Kashmir, which we all condemn, what steps are the Government taking to de-escalate tensions, and to urge the Governments of India and Pakistan to engage in a transparent and impartial investigation to establish the facts, while also pushing forward a new diplomatic engagement to address all outstanding issues, including the core dispute of Kashmir, through meaningful dialogue and a commitment to peace that prioritises the lives and rights of all Kashmiris?

[Mr Falconer]

As I said earlier, we have been engaged with both Governments. The long-standing position of the UK is that it is for India and Pakistan to find a lasting resolution to the situation in Kashmir. It must take into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people and it is not for us to prescribe a solution. We will continue in those efforts.

Middle East

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

This is a moment—I say this having met those hostage families, having prayed for the life of Emily Damari in particular, and having met Palestinians with family in Gaza—where I insist from this Dispatch Box that I will hold out for hope and for that deal being implemented on Sunday. I have been really clear about the responsibilities that I believe the Israeli Government need to meet. We are meeting here in this House on a Thursday, so there are days before Sunday. I believe a settlement will be reached. We will continue to work with the current Administration in America and, indeed, the President-elect’s Administration. He has made his views clear. I will not give in to the cynicism that we will not get to that deal on Sunday and that this process will not begin.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

I trust the Government will do all they can to ensure that the ceasefire leads to a lasting peace—a peace based on a two-state solution that addresses the root causes of the violence and creates a future in which the rights and security of people in the region are respected. Will the Foreign Secretary redouble his efforts in urging his counterparts in Israel to grant full access to humanitarian organisations, such as the UN, that are urgently seeking to deliver aid in Gaza, as well as to ensure that journalists have unfettered access to report on the situation?

[Mr Lammy]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right; journalists now need to be able to get in and report on what is happening on the ground. I thank him for giving me a moment to call to mind the many aid workers who have died in this conflict—more than in any other conflict in history—and to thank them for their humanitarian efforts. I repeat again that part of the settlement that came out of the second world war was that there was deconfliction for aid workers working in the most severe of circumstances. That is the expectation of the international community, and we deplore the fact that it has not been met so egregiously in this most horrendous of wars.

Israel and Palestine

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Monday 16th December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Rachel Hopkins (Luton South and South Bedfordshire) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Harris. We are rightly debating these important petitions on arms sales to Israel and the recognition of the state of Palestine. My constituents in Luton South and South Bedfordshire care deeply about these issues, and more than 1,300 of them signed the petitions. However, that is only a fraction of those who have reached out to me since this devastating conflict began. Since October 2023, I have received thousands of emails from people horrified by the events we have seen unfolding on our TV screens and on social media. I share the concerns of my constituents.

We have now passed the one-year mark since this terrible conflict began, and every day we watch the damage and destruction done to the lives of Palestinian people in Gaza. The priority for all of us, of course, is an end to this brutal conflict.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

I thank the 543 constituents in Bedford and Kempston who signed the petition to recognise the state of Palestine immediately. Does my hon. Friend agree that after a year of Israel’s unprecedented bombardment and destruction of Gaza, which has led to massive human suffering and overwhelming evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, it is our obligation—our duty—to recognise the Palestinian state now?

[Rachel Hopkins]

I thank my hon. Friend for making an excellent point. The priority for all of us, of course, is an end to this brutal conflict, and that brings me to the first petition, which relates to UK arms sales to Israel. I respect the swift action taken by the Foreign Secretary when Labour took office to review existing arms licences, and the subsequent decision to suspend several licences to Israel where the Government concluded there was a clear risk they

“might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of IHL.”

However, my constituents continue to be appalled by the death and destruction they are witnessing in Gaza, and they want the Government to go much further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Tuesday 30th April 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

We need to tackle this issue, as I think the hon. Gentleman is implying, on a series of different fronts. We are working upstream, as the deal with Vietnam demonstrates. Our Prime Minister has substantially repaired the relationship with France. The Calais Group has met the UK-France customs partnership. We work closely with Frontex. There are far more officials now in Britain dealing with these cases. As the Prime Minister has made clear, once this matter has been resolved, he is going to look at bringing in safe and legal routes from elsewhere.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

6. What steps he is taking to help improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

[Ian Levy (Blyth Valley) (Con)]

9. What steps he is taking to help get more aid into Gaza.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Deputy Foreign Secretary (Mr Andrew Mitchell)]

We have trebled our aid commitment in the past year and we are doing all we can to get more aid to Gaza by land, air and sea.

[Mohammad Yasin]

The Colonna review was given no evidence to back up claims by the Israeli Government that UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attacks. Other countries have already restored funding to the aid agency, so it can continue its work feeding tens of thousands of people who are starving in Gaza, including innocent babies who are dying without milk. Will the Minister commit to refunding today? Or will he continue to risk UK complicity in using famine as a weapon of war?

[Mr Mitchell]

I have set out the process by which we will judge how and when to restore funding to UNRWA, but the situation has improved in recent weeks. The hon. Member will have seen that fuel for bakeries has been restored. We are pressing for the activation of the water pipeline and, over the past week, we have been averaging more than 200 trucks each day. Progress has been made, but there needs to be a lot more progress, and Britain will continue to press for it.

Israel and Gaza

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Tuesday 27th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

We are acting at every level to achieve the results that the hon. Lady and I both want. That is seen in: the work we are doing internationally in the region to try to facilitate the entry of medicines; our work with the Jordanian Government to make air drops, which include medical equipment; and our support for medical charities, some of which are based in Gaza. In every way, we are trying to alleviate the suffering to which she so eloquently referred.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

As we approach the five-month mark of this horrific conflict, nearly 30,000 Palestinians have died and children in Gaza are dying of starvation. Diplomatic efforts must yield results before thousands more die—it will be tens of thousands if the Rafah offensive goes ahead. Does the Minister agree that time is of the essence and that, unless there is a ceasefire now, there will not be a deal to make?

[Mr Mitchell]

The statement that the hon. Gentleman makes and the question he asks me underline the importance of the international community and Britain working with our allies to double and redouble efforts to ensure that we reach the situation that I have set out before the House on a number of occasions this afternoon.

Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Monday 29th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

I am not a lawyer, so I am not able to answer any of the hon. Lady’s legal points—nor should I, across the House—but I can assure her that we are committed to making sure that international relief and humanitarian supplies get into Gaza. That is the burden of much of the discussion and comments that the British Government are engaged in. I discussed it with Jamie McGoldrick and Martin Griffiths, the head of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, over the weekend. We are doing everything we can to expand the ability to get aid into Gaza. On UNRWA, the hon. Lady will know that, while we have made it clear that we will not be making any further payments until the inquiries are completed to our satisfaction, nevertheless the funding we have already given to UNRWA is having an effect on the ground. We just want to make sure that it reaches the people for whom it was intended.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

Earlier the Minister failed to answer the question put to him by my hon. Friend the Member for Bradford East (Imran Hussain), so I will ask a similar question and give him another opportunity. Given the ICJ’s interim ruling that the risk of genocide in Gaza is plausible, will the Minister suspend UK arms sales to Israel to ensure that UK weapons are not used to kill innocent Palestinians?

[Mr Mitchell]

On the subject of both arms sales and the ICJ, I have set out for the hon. Gentleman the Government’s position. I am afraid that, just because he asks the same question again, it does not mean he is going to get a different answer.

Gaza: Humanitarian Situation

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Monday 4th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Leo Docherty]

We have long been on record as calling for all parties to abide by international humanitarian law.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

As the Israeli authorities are now bombing south Gaza—the very area they asked civilians to reach in order to be safe—does the Minister agree that the supply of arms to the Israeli Government must be suspended, given that serious violations amounting to crimes under international law are being committed?

[Leo Docherty]

We support, and are on record as supporting, Israel’s right to defend itself, and our relationship with Israel is in accordance with that. That does not mean that we do not at the same time argue for a de-escalation, a humanitarian pause and a return to peace.

Israel and Hamas: Humanitarian Pause

Mohammad Yasin Excerpts

Monday 27th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Mitchell]

For aid in Gaza, we have not dealt with either the Palestinian Authority or the Hamas civil administration for many years, and we do everything we can to ensure that it gets through to the people who need it. He will have seen that, I think yesterday, a British aircraft delivered 4,500 blankets and 4,500 sleeping mats to al-Arish in Egypt. That was the fourth planeload. We will continue to ensure not only that we supply as much aid as we possibly can to meet the need, but that it gets to the right place as speedily as possible.

[Mohammad Yasin (Bedford) (Lab)]

Does the Minister share my grave concerns about what Prime Minister Netanyahu’s recent chilling comments—that “Nothing will stop us” and that he will fight “until the end”—will mean for Palestine and the further massacring of innocent civilians? We need an urgent ceasefire to prevent the further loss of life. How many more Palestinian children must die before the Government will call for a permanent ceasefire?

[Mr Mitchell]

Israel absolutely has the right to defend itself, following the appalling events of 7 October. Of course, civilians, as well as hospitals, must be protected under international humanitarian law, but the hon. Member should be in no doubt that the Israeli Government have the absolute right to defend themselves under international law.