1 Richard Burgon debates involving the Department for International Development

Tue 15th Oct 2024

Gaza and Lebanon

Richard Burgon Excerpts
Tuesday 15th October 2024

(1 day, 15 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Richard Burgon Portrait Richard Burgon (Leeds East) (Ind)
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In the past few days alone, Israel has burned people alive by bombing a tent camp at a hospital, killed children by bombing a school and fired on UN peacekeepers. We have had a year of this. As a Palestinian lawyer told me, Britain knows exactly what to do, because it rightly did it against Russia after its illegal invasion of Ukraine: impose sanctions on arms, trade and officials. That is how to get Israel to stop doing what it is doing. When will Israel be held to the same standards for its war crimes and violations of international law?

Anneliese Dodds Portrait Anneliese Dodds
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It is very important that the UK takes its responsibilities seriously. The hon. Member talked about some of the reports that we have seen—the UK Government are looking very closely at them and we are determined to ensure that we play our part in ensuring that international law is upheld. He talked about sanctions policy; as I mentioned before, we will always keep that under review, but he should be aware that the UK has already sanctioned eight people responsible for perpetrating and inciting human rights abuses against Palestinian communities in the west bank. We will continue to keep these issues under review.