Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to respond to the United Nation’s call for the international community to take immediate and effective steps to protect and sustain the six Palestinian civil society groups that were designated as terrorist organisations by the Government of Israel in October 2021; and if he will (a) make representations to the Israeli authorities to rescind this designation, (b) condemn the steps taken by Israeli forces on these organisations, and (c) review the UK’s bilateral relations with Israel.

We have been clear that we do not support the Israeli government's decision last year to designate six Palestinian non-governmental organization (NGOs) as terrorist organisations. The subsequent raids on the offices of seven Palestinian NGOs, and on St Andrew's Anglican Church in Ramallah, and arrests of their staff, are equally troubling. We have not changed our approach, based on the information provided by the Government of Israel and we continue to engage with a number of these organisations. Civil society organisations play an important role in upholding human rights and democracy and they must be able to operate freely in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPTs). Officials at the British Embassy Tel Aviv, alongside our European partners, have directly raised our opposition with the Israeli Government on the designations, and made clear our support for Civil Society Organisations in Israel and the OPTs.