BBC Question Time audience member in fiery Israel exchange with Labour MP
Thursday night's programme, hosted by Fiona Bruce, featured Labour MP and Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, Conservative MP David Simmonds, LibDem MP Jess Brown-Fuller and journalists Ava-Santina Evans and Tim Montgomerie.
A woman in the audience hit out at the Labour Government's continued sale of arms to Israel.
Addressing Alexander, the woman said: "I feel such a sense of betrayal from the Labour Party. I would never vote Tory, I would never vote Ukip, and I used to vote Labour.
"Why are you still friends with Israel, an apartheid state? And why is the Labour Party still sending components of F-35 weapons to Israel that are killing, targeting babies, children, hospitals, schools?
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"Enough of this rhetoric about being anti-Semitic, if you support Palestinian babies–"
The woman was then cut off by host Fiona Bruce, who asked Alexander to respond.
Alexander started: "We're not sending F-35 components directly to Israel–"
The audience member interjected: "You are still sending components of F-35 weapons to Israel, yes you are.
"You have reduced weapons by only 8% to Israel, by 8%."
The National previously reported how Labour licensed exports of more military equipment to Israel in the final three months of 2024 than the Tories did for all of 2020-2023.
Bruce then said: "I hear your passion, I must let her answer."
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Alexander responded: "I find it as sickening and as harrowing as every single person in this audience seeing those images on the television of children wandering around rubble who are never going to find their parents, and who are being starved to death."
The audience member could be heard shouting: "Then do something!"
Alexander continued: "That is why we have got to find a way of bringing a sustainable solution to the region, a lasting peace, and getting significant humanitarian aid in.
"None of us want to wake up tomorrow and see those scenes on our television screens, and I think every single one of us on that panel would agree with that sentiment."
The audience then gave a round of applause.
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