Gaza: UK Assessment

Debate between Stella Creasy and Hamish Falconer

Wednesday 14th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

It is obviously inappropriate to try to rehearse submissions that are currently being heard by the court.

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

The Minister knows this, but we should put on record that when President Netanyahu says there is “no way” he will stop his onslaught in Gaza, he does not do so with the consent of the hostage families, or indeed of the majority of people in Israel. Even President Trump is now avoiding him. My hon. Friend the Member for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green (Florence Eshalomi) is right: we have obligations too. I hear the Minister’s frustration, and I think that across this House we want to give him strength so that he can go further. He will have heard the calls for sanctions and reports to international criminal courts. Will he give us a vote in this place about immediately recognising Palestine, as we had in 2014, so that we can strengthen his negotiations with Israel and send a clear message that what is happening in Gaza is wrong and must stop?

[Mr Falconer]

I know that my hon. Friend has an incredibly brave and courageous constituent who is herself a member of a hostage family. Whenever I have seen her, her words ring in my ears, as do those of other hostage families, and I know they do so across the world. They are important views expressed by those who are most directly affected by the horrors of 7 October and all that followed.

I have already rehearsed some of the arguments in relation to recognition.

India-Pakistan: Escalation

Debate between Stella Creasy and Hamish Falconer

Wednesday 7th May 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his measured and reasonable question. I will take away the issue he raises. I have been in regular contact with the Minister for Faith, Communities and Resettlement in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. We are discussing these issues closely, recognising the sensitivity in constituencies like the hon. Gentleman’s and many others that have been mentioned.

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

The Minister will know that our British constituents with strong links to Kashmir are both horrified by the terrorist attack and terrified by the escalation of violence that we have seen overnight, as well as by the online hatred being fomented. Two weeks ago, I asked the Minister about the possibility of missiles being used in escalation. We have now heard from the Indian Foreign Secretary that they believe there are further terrorist acts planned, and the Pakistani Prime Minister has called last night’s events an “act of war”. The Minister will be aware of the UN Security Council meeting planned for Monday. What words of comfort can he offer our constituents who are horrified about what might happen in the next couple of days that this Government will push not just for de-escalation but a long-term solution that guarantees the peace and security of everybody in Kashmir?

[Mr Falconer]

I thank my hon. Friend for conveying the concerns of her constituents so effectively. Regional stability is in the interests of India and Pakistan, and indeed the UK, and it will be to those ends that our diplomacy will be focused. As she acknowledges, my focus this afternoon is on de-escalation, but of course we will engage with both Governments on the full range of the interests engaged.

Kashmir: Increasing Tension

Debate between Stella Creasy and Hamish Falconer

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his important question. We will continue to work with both states on the issues he outlines in the way I have described over the course of the afternoon.

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

It is our common humanity that unites many of us in this House in our condemnation of a terrorist act and our condolences to the families affected, whether they have community links to this country or not. I hear what the Minister says, and I support entirely his call for an investigation, as many Members do. What is troubling my British constituents who have family in the Kashmir region are the words of the Indian Defence Minister, who has said there will be a “strong response” in the coming days. In previous crisis moments, we have had missile strikes, airstrikes and special forces action from the Indian Government, and we have seen an explosion in anti-Muslim attacks in India in the past couple of days. What words of reassurance can the Minister offer my British constituents, who are concerned about human rights around the world and concerned about family members, that this Government will always speak up for innocent civilians, wherever they may live and wherever they may find friends?

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. We do, of course, stand up for human rights around the world, and we will continue our work to try to address heightened tensions between India and Pakistan. We want to avoid a dangerous spiral of escalation in the region.

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Visit

Debate between Stella Creasy and Hamish Falconer

Tuesday 29th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I am confident that I will be back in this House to talk about the details of recognition soon.

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

As another Member of this House who voted in 2014 to recognise the state of Palestine in a motion that this House passed, I will say that progress on this matter is long overdue. I hope the Minister has heard loud and clear the message from many of us that continuing to delay that is problematic.

The right hon. Member for New Forest West (Sir Desmond Swayne) might be surprised that I agree with him: there is a concern about what will be left of the state of Palestine. Despite the existence of theogenic technology, Israeli forces are now burning to the ground the agricultural fields in northern Gaza in apparent pursuit of the tunnels that Hamas are using for their terrorist attacks. We know that nearly 4,000 children in Gaza have been diagnosed as suffering from acute malnutrition. We all desperately want to see aid resuming to Palestine, because we know that there is no future for any state if people are starving to death. Will the Minister update us on the practical details he discussed last night with the Palestinian Authority about how we will get food back into Gaza and get movement in this process?

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend raises important questions about the viability of the Palestinian state. The Occupied Palestinian Territories must not be reduced either geographically or by forced displacement, and I am happy to reiterate that point at the Dispatch Box. There is clearly an urgent crisis. The World Food Programme has said that it has now run out of food in the Gaza strip. The single most important measure that can be taken to address that crisis is an end to the blockade of aid into the Gaza strip, and that is what we continue to call for.

Israel: Refusal of Entry for UK Parliamentarians

Debate between Stella Creasy and Hamish Falconer

Monday 7th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

That is a decent and honourable contribution, and I thank the right hon. Member for it.

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

Colleagues who were elected after 2024 may not know that in 2022, 287 of us parliamentarians were banned from entering Russia over our views about the Ukrainian crisis, including not just the right hon. Member for New Forest East (Sir Julian Lewis) and me, but the right hon. Member for North West Essex (Mrs Badenoch), the Leader of the Opposition. At that time, the House stood as one standing up to that intimidation. Today, from the Opposition, we get a dog whistle so loud—about our colleagues, who did nothing wrong apart from wanting to go and see for themselves what was going on—that it could be heard on the moon. What a disgrace. Does the Minister agree that this Government will always defend free speech and that defending free speech means defending the ability of people to go and talk about things that others may not want to talk about?

[Mr Falconer]

As I have said, these parliamentary delegations are very valuable, and I want to see them continue.

Gaza: Israeli Military Operations

Debate between Stella Creasy and Hamish Falconer

Wednesday 2nd April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I agree with the right hon. Gentleman: of course Israel has the right to legitimate self-defence consistent with international humanitarian law. Concerns about the risk of a breach of international humanitarian law underpin our concerns. He is absolutely right that Hamas are a threat not just to Israel but to their own people, and I have been absolutely clear on that question on numerous occasions at this Dispatch Box. Where there are any reports that Hamas are benefiting from aid going into the Gaza strip or anywhere else, we take serious action in response.

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

If the rule of international law is to mean anything, we must uphold it, so just as we recognise that taking hostages is a breach of international law, we must recognise that killing aid workers is a breach of international law. My constituents will be listening to the Minister, recognising the work being done but completely perplexed as to why we are not doing more to uphold international law in practice. He is right to argue that the courts need to be involved. He said that he wanted this issue to be dealt with by the relevant competent court and talks about novel elements of jurisprudence delaying our ability to do that. Can he explain to my constituents what more it would take for the United Kingdom, through the auspices of the UN Security Council, to make a referral to the International Criminal Court given what we are seeing and to uphold international human rights law directly?

[Mr Falconer]

My hon. Friend asks an important question. I recognise that, for constituents in Walthamstow and elsewhere, questions of international law may seem very arcane when we are faced with the kinds of images that we are all seeing this morning and have been seeing for months, so let me clarify. She refers to the ICJ advisory opinion. That advisory opinion, long in gestation, refers to the presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It pre-dates the 7 October attacks. She also refers to the ICC, which has heard referrals in relation to conduct on both sides of the conflict since the 7 October attacks. We respond in the fullness of time, as required by the ICJ, which has taken some time in its complex determinations about the status of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We have responded on the ICC to the timelines required—we did so late last year.

Syria

Debate between Stella Creasy and Hamish Falconer

Monday 10th March 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Falconer]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for that moving account. The family in his constituency are representative of Syria, which is a place of many different minorities and communities with a long history of working together. I confirm that I am working with international partners, including the United Nations, to do everything we can to ensure that the violence on the coast stops.

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

The Minister paints an extremely concerning picture of what is happening in Syria. On 9 December, the Government announced a temporary pause in accepting asylum applications from people from Syria, because of our hopes for the country’s future. In the light of what he is telling us, what conversations has he had with his colleagues in Government about what should inform that assessment moving forward and what it means for people in our country?

[Mr Falconer]

The events over the weekend are still unfolding. I am not really in a position to provide any further commentary on what they might mean in relation to other parts of Government, but I will return to the House when I am.

Northern Gaza

Debate between Stella Creasy and Hamish Falconer

Tuesday 7th January 2025 Commons Chamber

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

I am sorry that the hon. Member for Mid Buckinghamshire (Greg Smith) is no longer here because he is right that Hamas are terrorists, but we need to be clear in this House that this is not being done in the name of the hostage families. The hostages’ families do not want to see babies freezing to death in Gaza, and they know this will not bring their loved ones home.

The Minister was clear with us earlier that he had seen aid piling up at the borders and that Israel controls the borders. Impeding access to humanitarian aid is a direct breach of international humanitarian law, so for the avoidance of doubt, is it his testimony that Israel is impeding access at the borders by the way in which it is controlling them? I think he needs to be clear on this point, because it does have ramifications for us.

[Mr Falconer]

I know many others in this House have done so as well, but I saw the hostage families in December, and my hon. Friend is absolutely right. They are desperate for the safe return of their loved ones, and we hold them in our hearts as their agony continues yet further.

On aid access, my hon. Friend is of course right that these questions are relevant to determinations of international humanitarian law. When we set out the assessment that underlined our action on the arms suspensions, we made particular reference to the provision of aid into the occupied territories in Gaza, and I refer her to that statement. We tried to provide as much detail in it as possible, and it remains the clearest articulation of our view about international humanitarian law and aid provision into Gaza.