AN SNP MP has accused the UK Government of hypocrisy in calling out war crimes committed by Russia but failing to do the same when it comes to Israel.
Speaking in the Commons, MP for Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber Brendan O’Hara questioned Foreign Office minister Anneliese Dodds on arms exports to Israel.
The UK Government previously suspended around 30 arms exports to Israel over concerns they could be used in violations of international humanitarian law.
Dodds told the Commons that “most licences” for exports to Israel are not for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), noting that F35 aircraft components are an exception.
O’Hara asked Dodds: “This month, the minister of state told this chamber, ‘we could not be clearer, intentionally directing attacks on civilian objects is a war crime, those attacks threaten civilian access to power, heating, water supply, impacting safety and livelihood of millions of Ukrainians’.
“And she was absolutely right. But why is it that this Government can immediately call out [Vladimir] Putin’s war crimes the moment they happen but they seem utterly incapable of doing that when the perpetrator is [Benjamin] Netanyahu (below) and when the victims are Palestinians?”
Dodds replied: “I do regret the tone of [O’Hara’s] question. He surely can recognise the prioritisation of this new Government to do all we can to secure the ceasefire that is required.
“Repeated messages that are being conveyed from this Government time and time again, making sure we play our part, that has been recognised internationally, the changes around UNRWA that we have made for example, the commitment to the ICC and ICJ.
“And again making sure that we held to our legal requirements around arms exports. That is a government that is committed to international humanitarian law.”
Following David Lammy’s (above) announcement the UK had suspended 30 arms licences, the SNP said it was “too little, too late”.
“Suspending just 30 out of 350 – less than 10% - of UK arms licenses to Israel is far too limited a response to the scale of the crimes against humanity, which are unfolding before the watching world,” Stephen Flynn said.
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Calum Miller asked whether the Government would stop selling arms to Israel after a UN envoy had warned that nowhere in Gaza was safe.
He said: “The attacks saw more than four, five residential blocks razed to the ground. Some (people) reached the hospital, some remain under the rubble. That is the account of Dr Eid Sabbah of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, which he gave yesterday.
“I noted the minister’s qualified earlier response, but as the UN special envoy for the peace process warns that nowhere in Gaza is safe, does the minister agree with me that he UK should cease all arms exports to Israel?”
Dodds replied: “I would urge him to look again at what I stated, which stipulated very clearly the legal grounds for that decision around arms exports but also the clarity around the fact that the restrictions that have been placed on arms due to that legal regime, which the UK Government was determined to fulfil, are because the other licences are not going to be used in the manner that some would suggest.
“We are very clear about the need to fulfil our international responsibilities in that regard.”
Independent MP Imran Hussain (Bradford East) urged the Government to impose “immediate sanctions on hard right extreme ministers in the Netanyahu government”, adding: “The time for empty promises and hollow words is over.”
Elsewhere, Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer said the Labour Government’s words “have not been hollow” and the Government will “continue to review these issues”.
