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<\/picture>\n( Abdulla Al Neyadi \/ UAE Presidential Court )
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The following exchanges are taken from Hansard which, for those who don\u2019t know, is the official and \u201csubstantially verbatim\u201d report of what is said in the UK Parliament.<\/p>\n
Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP) commented: \u201cIt is important to repeat the denunciation of\u00a0the death cult known as Hamas<\/strong>.\u201d Sir Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con): \u201cThose on both Front Benches seem to agree that\u00a0Hamas must not remain in control in Gaza<\/strong>. Is any thought being given to how,\u00a0once they have been removed, they can be prevented from coming back<\/strong>?\u201d [Lewis is also Jewish]<\/p>\n Shapps: The easiest way to bring this to an end, as I hinted earlier, would be for Hamas, a terrorist organisation, to release the hostages that they have, to stop firing rockets into Israel in a completely indiscriminate way, which I think the whole House should condemn.\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Michael Ellis (Northampton North) (Con): \u201cThe Houthis, who are attacking British and American cargo ships, and Hamas are basically two sides of the same coin.\u00a0They are Iranian-funded, Iranian-trained and, of course, Iranian-guided terrorist groups that are publicly committed to the destruction of Israel<\/strong>\u2026. I particularly welcome the UK\u2019s deployment of drones to help locate hostages, including British hostages. In the days after 7 October, the Defence Secretary said: \u2018No nation should stand alone in the face of such evil.\u2019 Will he repeat that crucial support today and in the difficult days ahead? I thank him for his support. [Ellis is Jewish and also a member of Conservative Friends of Israel].<\/p>\n Shapps: My right hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right that no nation should stand alone. It is easy to forget\u00a0how this all began, when the Hamas terrorist group thought it was a plan to go into Israel to butcher men, women and children, cut off heads and rape people<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Greg Smith (Buckingham) (Con): \u201cI applaud the decisive actions of my right hon. Friend and the Government to\u00a0defend our strategic ally, Israel, against Hamas<\/strong>, but the grim reality on the ground right now is that\u00a0Hamas continue to fire dozens of rockets at Israeli towns and cities. The Iran-backed terror group have fired more than 10,000 rockets since 7 October and show no sign of stopping their violent attacks against Israel<\/strong>. Will my right hon. Friend not only commit to continuing his support for Israel in defending itself against Hamas, but reassure the House that every possible step is being taken to counter Iran\u2019s links across the region, which are causing instability?\u201d<\/p>\n Shapps: \u201cMy hon. Friend makes an excellent point that\u00a0the conflict would be over immediately if hostages were released and Hamas stopped firing rockets into Israel\u2014there would not be a cause for conflict<\/strong>. Indeed, that is the policy Israel followed for many years, hoping that, even though rocket attacks continued, Hamas would not take advantage of their own population by using them as human shields and building infrastructure under hospitals, schools and homes\u2026.\u00a0My hon. Friend is absolutely right to identify Iran as being behind this whole evil business<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Richard Foord (Tiverton and Honiton) (LD): \u201cIt was reassuring last week, in answer to my question, to hear the Minister for Armed Forces, the right hon. Member for Wells (James Heappey) telling us that UK surveillance flights would not involve the use of intelligence for target acquisition. I also welcome the Secretary of State talking today about how information that would be helpful to hostage recovery will be passed to the so-called appropriate authorities.\u00a0We have now heard two questions about the International Criminal Court. Will the UK pass any evidence that it gathers of any breaches of international humanitarian law by combatants in Gaza to the ICC?<\/strong>\u201c<\/p>\n Shapps: \u201cAs the hon. Gentleman says, that question has been asked, and I have answered it a couple of times. The intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance\u2014ISR\u2014flights are to look for British hostages and indeed other hostages. That is the information that will be gathered from those flights. Of course, if we saw anything else,\u00a0we would most certainly alert our partners<\/strong>\u201c. [But do they include the ICC? I think not.]<\/p>\n Patrick Grady (Glasgow North) (SNP): \u201cYesterday I asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, the hon. Member for Aldershot (Leo Docherty),\u00a0whether the UK Government were in a position to contribute to the International Criminal Court\u2019s call for evidence in its investigation of potential breaches of international humanitarian law<\/strong>. He said: \u2018Not at this stage, but we will continue to take note.\u2019 Surely,\u00a0if the UK Government are actively collecting drone and surveillance images of the war zone, the answer to that question should have been yes<\/strong>?\u201d<\/p>\n Shapps: \u201cI would have thought that the No. 1 concern would be to locate the British hostages, and that is where the surveillance work will focus.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Ind): \u201cThe Secretary of State needs to be very clear with the House: 15,000 people have already died in Gaza, and 1,200 have died in Israel.\u00a0Israel is clearly pushing the entire population southwards, if not out of the Gaza strip altogether<\/strong>. Is Britain involved in the military actions that Israel has taken, either physically or by providing information in support of those military activities? I think the House needs to be told.\u00a0What is the long-term aim of British military involvement in Gaza<\/strong>?\u201d<\/p>\n Shapps: \u201cThe simple answer is no, and I hope that clears it up. I am surprised to hear the right hon. Gentleman talk just about people being killed. They were murdered. They were slaughtered. It was not just some coincidental thing. I understand and share the\u00a0concerns about the requirement on Israel, on us and on everyone else to follow international humanitarian law<\/strong>. When Israel drops leaflets, when it drops what it calls a \u201cknock\u201d or a \u201ctap\u201d and does not bomb until afterwards, when it calls people to ask them to move, when it issues maps showing where Hamas have their tunnels and asks people to move away from them, that is a far cry from what Hamas did on 7 October, when they went after men, women and children.\u201d<\/p>\n Kim Johnson (Liverpool, Riverside) (Lab): \u201cWe have seen increased bombardment in southern Gaza after the pause.\u00a0We are also seeing increased violence in the West Bank, supported by extremist settler Ministers. What talks is the Secretary of State having with Israel to stop the increase in settler violence in the West Bank?<\/strong>\u201c<\/p>\n Grant Shapps: \u201cI certainly will not be pulling my punches when I speak to my Israeli counterparts. The violence in the West Bank is unacceptable and it must be controlled\u2014stopped, in fact. None of that, in any way, shape or form, separates us from\u00a0our utter condemnation of how this whole thing was started in the first place with Hamas<\/strong>, but the hon. Lady is right about that settler violence.\u201d Alan Brown (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (SNP): \u201cMedical Aid for Palestinians has warned that Israel\u2019s indiscriminate bombing and siege is making it impossible to sustain human life in Gaza. With 1.8 million civilians displaced and a lack of clean water and sanitation,\u00a0it is just a matter of time before a cholera outbreak kills many thousands more<\/strong>. The Secretary of State has been unequivocal that the main purpose of surveillance is to help find hostages, which is fine, but\u00a0for the fifth time of asking: if clear evidence is found of breaches of humanitarian law, will the UK Government share that evidence with the International Criminal Court?<\/strong> Peter Grant (Glenrothes) (SNP): \u201cIt is absolutely right that those responsible for the crimes of Hamas are held to account in international law. But\u00a0why is the Secretary of State so reluctant to give a clear, simple \u201cyes\u201d to the question whether the Government will provide any evidence of war crimes to the International Criminal Court? Is it because he has already seen such evidence? Is it because Israel has asked him to promise not to share such evidence?<\/strong>\u00a0What is the reason?\u201d<\/p>\n Grant Shapps: \u201cI have already said that\u00a0the United Kingdom is bound by, and would always observe, international humanitarian law<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n The message we are supposed to swallow from this pantomime is that it\u2019s all the fault of Hamas and Iran who \u201cstarted the whole thing\u201d on 7 October, and that Israel\u2019s massacres, brutal occupation using military force, cruel blockade and clear intention of establishing Jewish sovereignty \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d over the last 75 years have nothing to do with it. It is clear that the UK will do everything to avoid upsetting Israel\u2019s evil plan and calling the regime\u2019s war criminals to account despite our solemn obligations under international law to do so. And it is pointless for the likes of Shapps to keep repeating that Israel \u201chas to follow international humanitarian law\u201d when Israel has been in permanent breach of nearly all aspects of law for decades and treats international norms with utter contempt. Only today the regime announced approval of 1700 more \u2018settlement\u2019 homes in East Jerusalem which is Palestinian territory. And it continues to defy international law, escalating its crimes to the most abhorrent of all \u2013 genocide \u2013 because it is given cover by the US and UK. Perhaps the rest of us should properly label Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza as \u2018US and UK-backed\u2019. And the UK itself ignores international law if it happens to be \u2018inconvenient\u2019.<\/p>\n As for the constantly repeated claim the Israel has a right to defend itself, this is blatant misinformation. Israel is an illegal military occupier and aggressor committing never-ending war crimes on someone else\u2019s sovereign territory. Its right to self-defence is practically zero in these circumstances. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has stated that \u201cIsrael cannot claim self-defence against a threat that emanates from the territory it occupies \u2013 from a territory that is kept under belligerent occupation\u201d.<\/p>\n And notice how everything the Israelis dislike, and everything that thwarts their lust for domination, is now labeled \u201cIranian-backed\u201d or \u201cHamas controlled\u201d. Shapps is evidently well versed in the 116-page propaganda manual produced by The Israel Project (TIP) and written specially for those \u201con the front lines of fighting the media war for Israel\u201d. Its purpose is to help the worldwide Zionist movement win the propaganda war by persuading international audiences to accept the Israeli narrative and agree that the regime\u2019s crimes are necessary for Israel\u2019s security and in line with \u201cshared values\u201d between Israel and the West.<\/p>\n This masterwork on deception attempts to justify Israel\u2019s slaughter, ethnic cleansing, land-grabbing, cruelty and blatant disregard for international law and United Nations resolutions, and make it all smell sweeter with a liberal squirt of persuasive language. It also incites hatred, particularly towards Hamas and Iran, and is designed to hoodwink Americans and Europeans into believing we actually share values with the racist regime, and therefore ought to support and forgive its abominable behaviour.<\/p>\n Readers are instructed to \u201cclearly differentiate between the Palestinian people and Hamas\u201d and to drive a wedge between them. The manual features \u201cwords that work\u201d \u2013 i.e. carefully constructed language to deflect criticism and reframe all issues and arguments in Israel\u2019s favour. We are seeing it at work here with great success.<\/p>\n MPs who are Jewish are identified as such when it seems appropriate. Those, like Sir Michael Lewis mentioned above, who are signed-up Friends of Israel should, in my opinion, declare that interest in any debate on the subject. But I must emphasise that not all Jewish MPs are tools of the apartheid regime. We remember with admiration Sir Gerald Kaufman who was arguing for economic sanctions against Israel back in 2004. And during a debate on the Gaza war of 2008\/9, he told the Commons: \u201cThe present Israeli government ruthlessly and cynically exploits the continuing guilt from Gentiles over the slaughter of Jews in the Holocaust as justification for their murder of Palestinians\u2026. My grandmother was ill in bed when the Nazis came to her home town of Staszow. A German soldier shot her dead in her bed. My grandmother did not die to provide cover for Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian grandmothers in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n He described Hamas as a \u201cdeeply nasty organisation\u201d but said the UK Government\u2019s boycott of Hamas had \u201cdreadful consequences\u201d, and he reminded the Commons that Israel had been created following acts of terrorism by the Irgun. He considered Iran a loathsome regime but, unlike Israel, \u201cat least it keeps its totalitarian theocracy to within its own borders\u201d.<\/p>\n As to why there are so many Israel lackeys in Westminster Kaufman said: \u201cIt\u2019s Jewish money, Jewish donations to the Conservative Party. There is now a big group of Conservative members of parliament who are pro-Israel\u2026. whatever the Israeli government does.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, it\u2019s not just the Conservative Party. The corrupting influence of dodgy funding is also affecting Labour and the LibDems.<\/p>\n Remembering the victims of genocide<\/strong><\/p>\n This week marks the 75th anniversary of the 1948 Genocide Convention. As explained on the United Nations website:<\/p>\n Every 9 December the Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide marks the adoption of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide \u2013 a crucial global commitment that was made at the founding of the United Nations, immediately preceding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. By General Assembly Resolution A\/RES\/69\/323 of 29 September 2015, that day also became the International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime.<\/em><\/p>\n At its landmark 75th anniversary this year, the Genocide Convention remains highly relevant. The 1948 Genocide Convention codified for the first time the crime of genocide in international law. Its preamble recognizes that \u201cat all periods of history genocide has inflicted great losses on humanity\u201d and that international cooperation is required to \u201cliberate humankind from such an odious scourge\u201d. To date, 153 States have ratified the Convention. Achieving universal ratification of the Convention, as well as ensuring its full implementation, remain essential for effectively advancing genocide prevention.\u00a0The Genocide Convention includes the obligation not only to punish the crime of genocide but, crucially, to prevent it<\/strong>. In the 75 years since its adoption, the Genocide Convention has played an important role in the development of international criminal law, in holding perpetrators of this crime accountable, galvanizing prevention efforts, and in giving a voice to the victims of genocide.<\/em><\/p>\n How many parliamentarians in Westminster and Washington who blindly support Israel\u2019s attempts to exterminate the Palestinians in Gaza and turn their homeland into rubble will publicly show respect for those victims of the apartheid regime\u2019s genocide?<\/p>\n
\nShapps replied: \u201cThe hon. Gentleman is right to stress\u00a0the abominable, disgraceful, disgusting behaviour of Hamas<\/strong>.\u201d [Shapps is Jewish]<\/p>\n
\nShapps: \u201cThe simple answer is that\u00a0we will always follow international humanitarian law<\/strong>\u00a0and its requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vtforeignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/559494.jpg.webp)
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