Starmer rebukes pro-Gaza MP who suggests he faces The Hague over Israel stance
Shockat Adam claims Keir Starmer may become the prime minister 'to see Britain answer at The Hague' for being 'complicit in war crimes” in Gaza
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
Keir Starmer has rejected calls by an Independent MP to “acknowledge that ethnic cleansing is under way and to end all UK military cooperation with Israel” telling the Commons “most of what he says is simply not right.”
Leicester South MP Shockat Adam had suggested he may be the prime minister “to see Britain answer at The Hague” for being “complicit in war crimes” in Gaza.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, pro-Gaza MP Adam said: “This week the Israeli government approved a plan to officially conquer Gaza, and just yesterday (Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich) vowed that Gaza will be entirely destroyed and that the Palestinians will have to leave in great numbers to third countries.
“This comes at the end of the extermination of over 50,000 Palestinian men, women and children and at the same time, simultaneous expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, something I witnessed with my own eyes last week.
“So will now the Prime Minister finally acknowledge that ethnic cleansing is underway and to end all UK military cooperation with Israel, especially the illegal provision of F-35 fighter jet parts, or will he risk make Britain complicit in war crimes and be the Prime Minister to see Britain answer at The Hague for its role in this atrocity?”
His question was met firstly with an abrupt response from the Prime Minister who said:”Most of what (Mr Adam) says is simply not right.”
But Starmer then continued: I do want to address the position in Gaza and the West Bank, because it is increasingly intolerable, and I am deeply concerned, particularly with the lack of aid that is getting in and the impact it’s having on hundreds of thousands of individuals.
“That concern is something I recently reaffirmed to the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, where I asserted again that a two state solution is the only viable approach for peace, and our focus is on delivering peace for Palestinians and Israelis, returning to the cease fire, getting the hostages out and humanitarian aid in that is desperately needed in greater number and more quickly.”
This week Israel approved a plan to intensify its operations in the Palestinian enclave, which would include seizing Gaza, holding on to captured territories, forcibly displacing Palestinians to southern Gaza and taking control of aid distribution along with private security companies.
Israel announced plans on Monday to take over the distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza as part of an expanded operation it says could include seizing the entire Gaza Strip.
On Tuesday, Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said this meant that the Gaza Strip would be “entirely destroyed”.
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