Israel-Hamas War: Diplomacy Debate
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Afzal Khan
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Israel-Hamas War: Diplomacy
Afzal Khan Excerpts(5 months ago)
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Afzal Khan (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab)
It is
“wrong and illegal to target civilians…international law is very clear that there mustn’t be the targeting of civilians”.
Those are not my words, but the words of the new Foreign Secretary, and then Prime Minister, during the 2014 war in Gaza. Given that over 10,000 Palestinian children alone have been killed, can the Minister confirm whether the Foreign Secretary, and therefore this Conservative Government, still believes that Israel’s targeting of civilians is wrong and illegal? What steps is he taking to hold the Israeli Government to account?
Mr Mitchell
Again, I recognise the integrity with which the hon. Gentleman speaks. I can tell him that, no, the Israeli Government never target civilians, but they are pursuing a strategy of degrading and eliminating the appalling perpetrators and the military machine that wrought the terrible disaster that took place on 7 October, which I remind him was a pogrom. More Jewish people were killed on that day than on any single day since the holocaust in 1945.