(Alamy)
4 min read
A Labour MP has accused Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel of not having expressed “one word of sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza” in the House of Commons.
Melanie Ward, Labour MP for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy, is the former CEO for Medical Aid for Palestinians, where she worked in Hebron in the West Bank.
In a letter to the senior Tory, seen by PoliticsHome, Ward criticised Patel for having a softer stance on Israel’s military offensive than US President Donald Trump and “huge swathes of the Israeli people”.
She wrote: “You have made many contributions on Israel-Palestine in Foreign Affairs Questions, in debates, and in responding to Ministerial Statements and Urgent Questions.
“Yet on examining Hansard since you became Shadow Foreign Secretary, I can find no occasion in which you have uttered one word of sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza.
“This is remarkable given the extraordinary levels of suffering they have been subjected to, and the deliberate policy of starvation that the Israeli Government is collectively enforcing on Palestinians in Gaza.”
The Labour backbencher accused Patel of not having made “even the mildest criticism of the Israeli Government” in its war in Gaza.
“President Trump has made more critical statements than you, as have — perhaps most notably — huge swathes of the Israeli public.
“Israeli ministers have made comments that include calling for or threatening the annihilation, destruction and ethnic cleansing of Gaza. Perhaps you will now take the opportunity to condemn these sorts of comments?”
The war in Gaza started on 7 October when Hamas terrorists invaded Israel and killed 1,200 people and abducted 251 people. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, more than 50,000 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
In recent weeks, the UK government’s language has hardened towards Israel over its renewed military offensive, limiting aid to Gaza, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aims to control the whole of the strip.
Leaders of the UK, Canada and France said in a statement on Monday that the “level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable” and added that its denial of humanitarian assistance was “unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law”.
The three countries added that it would take further “concrete actions” if Israel did not change its approach, describing the situation in Gaza as “intolerable”.
On Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Lavid Lammy said the UK was pausing trade talks with Israel over its “egregious actions and rhetoric”.
In a strongly worded statement, Lammy said the conduct of the Netanyahu government was “isolating Israel from its friends and partners around the world, undermining the interests of the Israeli people and damaging the image of the state of Israel in the eyes of the world”.
Ward, in her letter, said Patel had spoken “passionately and rightly at every opportunity about the need to immediately get the Israeli hostages”. But the Labour MP urged the former home secretary to speak out with “equal passion about Palestinian civilians — men, women and children.”
Ward, as a former aid worker, also criticised the Conservative Party’s position on the new model for aid distribution in Gaza.
A US-backed aid organisation was established in early May to provide humanitarian assistance across the strip. The new system aims to replace the existing United Nations-led humanitarian aid distribution model after a breakdown in relations between Jerusalem and the UN.
However, NGO and governments have criticised the moves, arguing that it violates humanitarian principles including impartiality and neutrality.
Referring to the Tories’ position on the aid model in Gaza, Ward wrote: “This militarised model would not only be totally and utterly inadequate in scale but also would be in violation of globally accepted humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, independence and impartiality.
“It would represent the militarisation of aid and the sidelining of the only bodies capable of delivering aid at even remotely the scale required, namely the UN and international humanitarian agencies.
“This would be deeply dangerous for Palestinians and also for aid workers in war zones across the world. Is this what the Conservative Party now supports?”
A Conservative spokesperson said: “The situation in Gaza is intolerable.
“The Shadow Foreign Secretary and the Conservative Party have been clear that more aid must reach the Palestinian people, but that the government must step up and do far more to ensure this happens.
“The Conservative Party will also continue working at every opportunity to ensure that the remaining hostages are returned by Hamas.”
