Israel and Palestine Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Stephen Crabb
Main Page: Stephen Crabb (Conservative - Preseli Pembrokeshire)Department Debates - View all Stephen Crabb's debates with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
(4 months ago)
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Stephen Crabb (Preseli Pembrokeshire) (Con)
Regarding the South African application into the International Court of Justice, our US allies have described it as
“meritless, counterproductive and completely without any basis in fact”.
The Irish Prime Minister also appears to have distanced himself from it. Will my right hon. Friend say a bit more about his view on that application at the ICJ? Does he agree that using terms such as “genocide” is actually an inversion of the truth in this context?
Mr Mitchell
I do think that using such inflammatory terms is unhelpful; I agree with my right hon. Friend about that. In respect of the ICJ, South Africa is entirely entitled to refer this matter. Right hon. and hon. Members will reach conclusions for themselves on whether something like that is helpful at this time.
My right hon. Friend, like me, will bear in mind that Israel is a state party to the Geneva convention of 1949, so it is obliged to take action against those accused of grave breaches of international humanitarian law. Because of the nature of Israeli society, that is something that we would expect it to do, were those circumstances to arise.