Israel and Palestine Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateRichard Tice
Main Page: Richard Tice (Reform UK - Boston and Skegness)Department Debates - View all Richard Tice's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(1 month ago)
Commons ChamberI warmly welcome the Foreign Secretary’s statement today. When I visited the west bank in 2022 with my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Layla Moran), we met Palestinians whose homes and schools had been demolished to make way for settlements. It was utterly heartbreaking. The measures announced today are very welcome, albeit overdue. Will he tell the House what specific action he plans to take on British companies such as JCB, which facilitate that destruction—
It finances some of our political parties in this country, but not the Liberal Democrats. [Interruption.]
I have set out our plans today; this is what we are going to do. My hon. Friend speaks with great eloquence on these questions. We have to decide what is in our national interest and what is the right thing for Britain, based on our values.
Richard Tice (Boston and Skegness) (Reform)
I refer to my entry on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. We all deplore settler violence, but the simple reality is that these sanctions are a grave mistake. Does the Foreign Secretary understand that so many people are concerned that all they will do is embolden the scourge of antisemitism against British Jews on British streets, endanger our relationship with the United States and our security, and lead to tit-for-tat sanctions from the Israeli Government?
If I may say so, I do not think that is a very responsible way of talking about these issues. The hon. Gentleman is welcome to disagree with our actions, as I think the right hon. Member for Tonbridge (Tom Tugendhat) did, but I do not think he should be talking in this way. I could not have been clearer in my statement that no British Jew is responsible for the policies of the Israeli Government, and it behoves us all, whichever side of this debate we are on, to ensure that there can be no confusion about that question. I am afraid his question fell afoul of that.