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The National
25-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Zarah Sultana: UK halting Israel trade talks is 'irrelevant'
Zarah Sultana, who remains suspended from Keir Starmer's party after voting to get rid of the two-child benefit cap, has said the decision to call off negotiations was part of Labour's 'mealy-mouthed, empty rhetoric' over Israel's assault on the enclave. This week, Foreign Secretary David Lammy described Israel's actions as 'monstrous' and warned that a 'dark new phase in this conflict' had been reached. He also described the Israeli government as 'extremists'. READ MORE: Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu hits out at Keir Starmer and other allies Lammy said the shift in the UK Government's position came in response to the blockade on aid to Gaza, Israel's devastating bombing of the territory and high-level leaders' public statements about ethnically cleansing the territory. However, there has been no movement on arms sales, with the UK continuing to send parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel, which have been used in Gaza. One move Lammy did make was announcing the suspension of negotiations for a new free trade deal with Israel, while Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely was summoned to the Foreign Office. But Sultana (below) told the Sunday National the change in approach from Lammy is 'too late' as she ripped into a 'pathetic' response to the bombardment by the UK Government. She said. 'These words [from Lammy] are 18 months too late and at the same time as delivering them at the despatch box, you are still continuing the supply of lethal fighter jets, you are still complicit in the destruction of Palestinian lives and you're still sending out spying surveillance flights. (Image: PA) 'It's mealy-mouthed, empty rhetoric and it is not backed up by a single action. 'The halt in the 2030 trade deal is so far away in the future that it is irrelevant. People need the genocide to be stopped now. They need the starvation to end now, and we're being told about all these things in the future. 'He couldn't even expel the Israeli ambassador. It's pathetic.' Just hours after Lammy said he condemned Israel's actions 'in the strongest possible terms', the UK Government sent a Shadow R1 spy plane from the Cyprus base RAF Akrotiri to monitor Gaza. The RAF describes Shadow R1 planes as being capable of 'comprehensive intelligence gathering' that is 'particularly valuable to ground commanders'. The UK Government said it will share information gathered from the flights with the Israeli military, but only if it was deemed relevant to securing the release of hostages held by Hamas within the Gaza Strip. Despite Lammy announcing the suspension of around 30 arms sale licences to Israel back in September, analysis of Israeli import data has revealed UK firms have exported thousands of military items to Israel. At a hearing in the High Court earlier this month, the UK Government defended its decision not to include parts for F-35 fighter jets in the suspension of licences. Labour's lawyers have argued that the evidence does not support findings that a genocide has taken or is taking place in Gaza – despite the UK Government publicly insisting that any determination of genocide is for the courts and not them. READ MORE: Kneecap's TRNSMT 2025 set would need major operation, police say The UK Government is obliged to block export licences if there is a clear risk they will be used to breach international law. The National also 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 to 2023, according to figures from the UK Government and Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). Sultana raised this statistic in the House of Commons last week and asked Lammy how 'he sleeps at night', but the Foreign Secretary accused her of being 'keen on clickbait'. Sultana told The National Lammy's response was an 'insult' to the more than 50,000 Palestinians who have been killed by Israel's assault on Gaza. 'These statistics are not social media headlines, they are official export data from the Government tied to weapons that are being directly sent from the UK being used in a genocide that is being investigated by the International Court of Justice,' she said. 'The Foreign Secretary brushing them off as clickbait isn't just dismissive and offensive, it is an insult to the tens of thousands of Palestinian lives that have been destroyed by the very weapons that this government is licensing.' Sultana added: 'His response is incredibly beneath the office of Foreign Secretary. This is someone who is actively licensing arms exports who could stop a genocide and instead he tells a backbencher in his party who has had the whip suspended because she doesn't believe children should be in poverty that she is keen on clickbait. 'That says more about him than it says about me.' The Coventry South MP also hit out at Health Secretary Wes Streeting who was heard to say her question to Lammy was 'cheap' in the Commons. 'I don't think calling out genocide is cheap. It is a duty,' she said. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has been approached for comment.
The National
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
'Statements' won't stop UK complicity in Israel's violence in Gaza
Glasgow University's rector, Palestinian surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah, and independent MP Jeremy Corbyn both accused the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary of being 'complicit in the mass murder of Palestinians' after the UK Government sent the plane to surveil Gaza just hours after David Lammy described Israel's actions in the region as 'monstrous'. Shortly after Lammy made the statement calling out Israel for stopping aid entering Gaza and for its ongoing bombardment of Palestinians, The National reported on how the UK Government sent a Shadow R1 spy plane – coded RFR7144 – from the Cyprus base RAF Akrotiri to monitor Gaza. The RAF describes Shadow R1 planes as being capable of 'comprehensive intelligence gathering' that is 'particularly valuable to ground commanders'. Lammy also said that the UK Government would continue to supply F-35 parts to Israel following the announcement that Labour had ended talks towards a free trade deal with the country. Corbyn told The National: 'The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary can make as many statements regretting Israel's offensive as they like. 'Until this government ends its military co-operation with Israel, it remains complicit in the mass murder of Palestinians. "What more is there to say?' Meanwhile Abu-Sittah, a world-leading expert on war-injured patients and children, condemned Labour for increasing the export of weapons in the latter months of 2024. The National reported last week that in the last quarter of 2024, the Labour Government exported more weapons to Israel than the Tories did from 2020-2023. READ MORE: BBC bins complaint over host's claim 'it's understandable Israel rounds people up' The total was more than the Tories had licensed for export to Israel between 2020-2023 combined, but Lammy dismissed the figures in a report by The National as 'clickbait'. 'The UK Government is a willing and eager partner in the genocide,' he said. 'The Labour Party increased its contribution of arms to genocide so that more starving Palestinian children are slaughtered by UK manufactured weapons.' Earlier this week, the Labour administration said information gathered by the British spy plane would only be shared if it was deemed relevant to securing the release of hostages held by Hamas within the Gaza Strip. On Wednesday, Starmer responded to SNP MP Kirsty Blackman on why Labour are sending fighter jet parts to Israel by saying that they could not block the exports without jeopardising UK military operations elsewhere. The UK Government has been approached for comment.
The National
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
UK sends spy plane over Gaza hours after attacking Israel's actions
On Tuesday afternoon, Lammy also described Benjamin Netanyahu's government as 'extremists' as he announced that Labour had ended talks towards a free trade deal with the country. Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely was also summoned to the Foreign Office to be admonished as part of the measures the UK Government is taking in response to the bombardment of Gaza, the 11-week blockade of aid which sparked a near-famine, and unfolding plans to ethnically cleanse the territory. READ MORE: The UK now officially admits it's arming Israeli extremists – but won't stop But despite the ramped-up action on Israel, Lammy said that the UK Government would continue to supply F-35 parts to the country. '[Weapons] are not being given to Israel for use in Gaza at this time … save for the carve-out we made for F-35s,' the Foreign Secretary told MPs at around 3.30pm UK time. Around three-and-a-half hours later, at 7pm UK time and 9pm in Gaza, the UK's Cyprus base RAF Akrotiri sent a spy plane to surveil the Palestinian region. Publicly available flight data shows that a Shadow R1 – a plane described by the RAF as capable of 'comprehensive intelligence gathering' that is 'particularly valuable to ground commanders' – flew towards Gaza before information transponders were cut off. At 7pm last night, Labour sent a UK spy plane over Gaza to collect intel for Israel Just hours after Labour announced suspension of trade talks If you collect intel for a genocidal power over territory they are attacking you are a participant UK ministers need to be arrested — Matt Kennard (@kennardmatt) May 21, 2025 Journalist Matt Kennard shared the flight path, writing: "At 7pm last night, Labour sent a UK spy plane over Gaza to collect intel for Israel. Just hours after Labour announced suspension of trade talks. "If you collect intel for a genocidal power over territory they are attacking you are a participant. UK ministers need to be arrested." The identity code of the Shadow R1 – RFR7144 – has previously been reported as used in the UK's surveillance operations of the Palestinian region. In June 2024, the UK Defence Journal reported that the RAF had conducted more than 250 surveillance flights near Gaza since December 3, 2023. The outlet reported that RFR7145, another Shadow R1, had been 'leading the operations'. READ MORE: I was in the IDF – now I'm a pro-Palestine activist in the Highlands Last month, the UK Government admitted that it holds footage from a RAF spy plane that was flying over Gaza as a group of aid workers were killed by the Israeli military in April 2024 – but refused to release it. The Labour Government has been pushed on its use of RAF Akrotiri in the past, with suggestions that it has been used as a stopover to allow the delivery of US weapons to Israel, as well as aiding Israel with surveillance of Palestine. Earlier this month, figures published by the UK Government showed that Labour licensed the export of more military equipment to Israel in the final three months of 2024 than the Tories had for all of 2020-2023 combined. Challenged on those figures in the Commons, Lammy suggested the story was 'clickbait'. The Foreign Office declined to comment on the spy plane. The Ministry of Defence has also been approached.
