Middle East

Stella Creasy Excerpts

Monday 21st July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Lammy]

Most licences are not for military use. Most do not go to Israeli authorities. Many are for civilian use, such as product testing or body armour for journalists and NGOs. I am quite sure that the hon. Member would not want us not to support those organisations. Some are for components going to Israeli companies that are then re-exported to third countries, including NATO allies.

[Ms Stella Creasy (Walthamstow) (Lab/Co-op)]

My hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi) is right; we have been waiting weeks for this statement. The truth is that our constituents do not understand—and neither do we—how we can track our stolen mobile phones to China or Algeria but we cannot track F-35 components in the multimillion-pound arms trade. They do not understand why we have not reported Israel directly to the International Criminal Court for what has been happening to aid workers, and they do not understand why, given that this House voted in 2014 to recognise the state of Palestine, that has not been enacted. I hear the Foreign Secretary’s frustration, and I do not doubt his frustration with his partners, but tonight we could say, “We do not need a conference—we will recognise the state of Palestine.” Will he join us—yes or no?

[Mr Lammy]

Again, I understand my hon. Friend’s strength of feeling. She knows that there will be a two-state conference on 28 July, and of course we will participate. But she will have also detected that at that conference our French and Saudi Arabian colleagues are talking not about recognition but about how we get to two states and get an enduring ceasefire. It may be that as we head to September and the United Nations General Assembly the issue of recognition is raised once more.