Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Lord Singh of Wimbledon Excerpts

Monday 9th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Janke (LD)]

My Lords—

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB)]

My Lords—

[The Lord Bishop of Southwark]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

I absolutely reassure the noble Baroness that the UK is not arming Israel’s war in Gaza. We can categorically say we do not export any bombs or ammunition for use in military operations in Gaza. As I have repeatedly said, one of the first acts of this Government was to review and suspend export licences for weapons that could be used by the Israel Defense Forces in Gaza. We have successfully implemented that suspension and continue to refuse all relevant licence applications.

I have also seen the press reports; we do not recognise the suggestion that arms exports from the UK to Israel increased following 7 October 2023, which covers a period under the last Government. The Government took decisive action in initiating a review of international humanitarian law on that day, so I can categorically say that we are not exporting bombs or ammunition for use in military operations.

[Lord Singh of Wimbledon (CB)]

My Lords, every day during prayers in this House, we pledge to put aside personal interests, prejudices and partial affections—that is, so-called friendships. Yet, we look in a benevolent way to the Israeli Government, who are accused of genocide, war crimes and the weaponising of hunger against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Unbelievably, we continue to supply arms and intelligence to Israel. Does the Minister agree that, in the 21st century, it is imperative that we look beyond politics, friendship or economic gain and base our foreign policy on the Christian and Sikh teachings of looking to the wider well-being of all, including Palestinians?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

Well, I think I gave in response to an earlier question an absolutely categorical reassurance that we are not arming Israel with bombs and ammunition that could be used in Gaza. We are faced with a situation here. Israel has the right to defend itself. What the Government of Israel do not have the right to do is deny humanitarian aid into Gaza. We have made that position absolutely clear. We are absolutely focused on ensuring that that aid gets in.

As we have debated many times, the real solution will come when we can create a situation of peace. I believe that is what the majority of Israeli citizens want: they want peace, they want to live with their neighbour and they want a secure state. But so do the Palestinians. The two-state solution is something we should be aiming towards. That is the condition for peace: living side by side with neighbours in a peaceful way.