Extract from Welsh Assembly Business Statement - May 15

Simon Thomas AM: The second item I wanted to raise with you is different, but many of us would have been shocked by the events in Gaza yesterday. It is not to excuse anything that Hamas or any other organisation does as an authority in Gaza to say that we do not and cannot accept the use of snipers to mow down thousands—literally thousands—of unarmed civilians. That is beyond any civilised Government's response in terms of protecting its borders or protecting its citizens. So, although this is not, I appreciate, an item for you or specifically for the Welsh Government, certainly people have been contacting me, people who are very upset about what was experienced. It's the worst that we've had for at least half a decade in that part. And, of course, the effects on overall peace in the middle east do affect us all because they affect the way we live our lives in our communities here and the way that many of our members of armed services might be involved in future as well. So, there is, I think, a real need for the Government to do two things, if possible: (1) simply for the First Minister to write to the Palestinian Authority just in terms of commiserating with the loss of life, not in a political way but simply just as a humanitarian gesture, and, secondly, to contact the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to urge the UK Government to take this up at the highest level, including at the United Nations.