Cross party pressure mounts on U.K. support for Israel as Corbyn introduces bill for inquiry

The Hindu

2 days ago

Pressure is mounting on the U.K. government of Keir Starmer to take a stronger position against Israel's actions in Gaza and this was on full display on Wednesday (June 4, 2025), with MPs, including those from the governing Labour Party, quizzing the government on its positions and accusing the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu of genocide. International Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric told the BBC that the situation in Gaza had become 'worse' than 'hell on earth'.
Independent U.K. MP and former Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn introduced a bill in the U.K. House of Commons on Wednesday (June 4, 2025) afternoon , seeking an independent inquiry into the U.K.'s role in the conflict and its support for Israel.
Another MP, from Labour, said there was 'extreme disquiet and unease' with government positions on the conflict.
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Specifically, one of the concerns is that British equipment for F-35 jets are finding their way into Israeli planes that are used in committing acts contrary to international humanitarian law. In September 2024, the U.K. government had suspended around 30 arms licenses (out of approximately 350) to Israel over such concerns.
Some of the other demands voiced in the British Parliament on Wednesday (June 4, 2025) were for the U.K. government to speed up the recognition of a Palestinian state, to term Israel's actions 'genocide' and for Downing Street to apply sanctions against certain Israeli government ministers adopting extreme positions. Last month the Starmer government announced it was suspending trade talks with Israel and had sanctioned some Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
Under pressure from his own party and others to stop arms exports to Israel, U.K. Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer was grilled in the House of Commons on Wednesday (June 4, 2025), when he insisted that the government was being transparent about arms licenses.
'Desperate civilians who have endured 20 months of war should never face the risk of death or injury to simply feed themselves and their families,' Mr Falconer said as he made a statement, in which he called Israel's blockade of food aid into Gaza 'inhumane'.
The junior Minister also condemned Hamas, called for the release of hostages it had taken in October 2023 and said the group could have no role in the future governance of Gaza.
On being asked whether the Starmer government believes that the Israel had engaged in genocide, the Minister said that it was the longstanding position that this was for a competent court to determine.
'Our grandchildren will ask why we effectively stood by whilst a people were eradicated by bombs, by bullets, by starvation and no doubt the further ethnic cleansing that is still to come,' Labour MP Paula Barker said.
'Over the past 18 months, human beings have endured a level of horror and inhumanity that should haunt us all forever,' Mr Corbyn said, as he introduced the bill, likening his proposed inquiry to the damming Chilcot Inquiry (2009-2016), which looked into Britain's role in the Iraq War.
Among the questions Mr Corbyn wants the inquiry to answer is what U.K. arms were used in Gaza and the West Bank; what the U.K. government position was on the F-35 program coming into compliance with international law; what Royal Air Force Akrotiri (Cyprus), a base, was being used for; and what legal advice the government had received on the assessment of genocide.