Extract from committee
stage (Commons) of the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration)
Bill
(Aberavon) (Lab):...The
reason for those concerns relates to an issue that I first raised
at this Dispatch Box back in April 2022, when the Rwanda plan was
first announced. When Israel signed its deal
with Rwanda in 2013, many of the asylum seekers who were sent
from Israel to Rwanda were
routinely moved clandestinely to Uganda, and in three cases,
refoulement to Eritrea via Kenya was prevented only by the UNHCR
intervening. It is little wonder that the Israeli Supreme Court
ruled the scheme unlawful in 2018, and it was closed down. In
December, the Government signed a treaty with the Rwandan
Government that says that refoulement is prohibited, and that
anyone removed to Rwanda from the UK must be allowed to stay in
Rwanda. Indeed, the only country to which people can be
transferred from Rwanda is the UK, which under the deal must also
accept some of Rwanda’s most vulnerable refugees and offenders
sent back from that country...
(Glasgow Central)
(SNP):...We know that Rwanda has form in not upholding its
obligations: when it had a deal with Israel it did
not uphold those obligations, and nobody has given any evidence
that anything has changed since the Supreme Court’s ruling on
this issue last year...
Extract from
Westminster Hall debate on Online Filter Bubbles: Misinformation
and Disinformation
(Brigg and Goole) (Con):...One
major conspiracy since 7 October is that the attacks on that day
were a false flag operation by Israel—we have all probably had
emails stating that. In one particular viral claim, social media
users argued that the attack at the Nova music festival, in which
364 people were murdered and many abducted, was not carried out
by Hamas but by Israeli forces, despite the fact that there was
video evidence taken by the people there. Some try to be clever
and deny one single aspect of the atrocity in order to skirt some
of the social media rules.
In another example, it was claimed that the Israeli Government
knew of the attack, but did not deploy the army in the hope that
the crisis would help restore popularity. The Institute for
Strategic Dialogue found that many of the conspiracies contain
common antisemitic tropes. For example, sites affiliated with
QAnon spread a conspiracy that the war was part of a plan to
start a third world war, with a hidden ambition to start a new
religion and cause chaos, which is of course a trope straight out
of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. We have seen that
throughout.
AI has also played a major role in disseminating disinformation.
I will use a few examples to demonstrate that. A Facebook post
shows Israeli civilians cheering Israeli Defence Forces soldiers
in an image that was heavily altered by AI. Of course, the people
who shared it do not know that. There was a deepfake video of
President Biden calling for a military draft in response to the
war with Hamas. It appeared on TikTok and Facebook, where it
managed to fool users into thinking that was real. I note that
other people have talked about the difficulties of deepfake...
For context, OPEN HERE
Questions to the
Foreign Secretary: Israel and Gaza
Tabled by
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and
Development Affairs what steps he is taking to secure a lasting
ceasefire arrangement between Israel and
Gaza.
(LD)
My Lords, my noble friend Lady Janke is unwell. With her
permission, and on her behalf, I beg leave to ask the Question
standing in her name on the Order Paper.
The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development
Affairs ( of Chipping Norton) (Con)
My Lords, we support a ceasefire, but this must be a sustainable
ceasefire that will last and prevent another generation living
under the constant threat of war. That must mean that Hamas is no
longer in power in Gaza, able to threaten Israel with rocket
attacks and other forms of terrorism. Ahead of a permanent
ceasefire, we want to see immediate and sustained humanitarian
pauses to allow hostages to leave and more aid to enter Gaza,
helping to create the conditions for a durable peace. As I said
at the weekend, we would like to see such a pause start right
now.
(LD)
My Lords, I thank the Foreign Secretary for his reply, and I
agree with most of it. However, these Benches have for a number
of weeks called for an immediate bilateral ceasefire, beyond a
truce, which would allow hostages to be returned, bombing to stop
and, of course, vital lifesaving aid to be secured. Why have the
Government failed so far to persuade the Israeli Government to
allow much greater access for the humanitarian aid that is
needed? There are 1.9 million displaced people, many of whom are
now facing famine. We now know that, when it comes to civilian
casualties, this is the most deadly conflict in the 21st century.
The UK will need to increase its support of humanitarian
assistance, but it cut that from £107 million to £12 million
between 2019 and 2023. I support the increase in aid but, surely,
there will need to be an increase of the cap of 0.5% if we are to
do our bit and ensure that aid is increased.
of Chipping Norton (Con)
First, I would say to the noble Lord that we have trebled the
amount of aid that we are putting into Gaza. I very much take on
board what he says about the pressure we need to put on not just
the Israeli Government but other Governments in the region to get
more aid in. Right now, as we speak, nine out of 10 people in
Gaza are living on less than one meal a day. It is that serious.
That is why I have had repeated conversations with the Israelis
and set out a whole series of bottlenecks that need to be
relieved. We need Kerem Shalom open all the time. We need the
Nitzana checkpoint open all the time. I would like to see the
port of Ashdod opened in Israel so that aid can
get into the country through maritime routes and more swiftly
into Gaza.
Crucially, we will not see more aid get to the people who need it
unless the United Nations inside Gaza has the vehicles, the
people and the fuel to get it around. Those permissions need to
be given. I have had these conversations most recently this
morning with the new UN aid co-ordinator, who I am confident will
do an excellent job. We will keep up the pressure for this,
because, as I have said, an immediate pause to help get that aid
in and to help get hostages out is essential.
(Ind SD)
Will the Foreign Secretary consider very seriously creating a UN
protection force for humanitarian relief? That was done
successfully in the winter of 1992 in a very difficult situation,
with no ceasefire, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. I recommend that
approach. Although a ceasefire is essential, it is not in the
immediate future very likely, but the humanitarian crisis is
getting worse every day. They cannot get relief in without some
form of protection from UN forces.
of Chipping Norton (Con)
I take what the noble Lord says, as a former Foreign Secretary,
extremely seriously. What would make a difference is
if Israel recognised its
responsibilities for making sure that food, medicine and supplies
have to be delivered to people in Gaza, and if it recognised that
you need the UN staff who have the visas, the equipment and the
fuel to help get it around. I will certainly take away the
suggestion that the noble Lord makes, but the calculation here is
quite simple. Before the conflict, some 500 trucks were going
into Gaza every day. I check the figures every single day; we are
up to about 150 trucks at the moment. That is not enough. The
longer it goes on, the greater the risk of people going hungry
and the greater the risk of disease and this humanitarian crisis
getting worse. A pause would help, because there is no doubt that
it would be easier to get food and other forms of aid in. It
would also be very good to make some progress on the hostages,
families of whom I met this morning.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Foreign Secretary makes an alarming point: that
within Gaza nine out of 10 Palestinians are not even getting a
single meal every day. The need for a sustained ceasefire is
absolutely clear as a first step towards getting humanitarian aid
in. The Government confirmed last week that currently there are
no plans for RAF aid flights or deliveries by the Royal Navy. Can
he say why that is? Surely that would be a good way of getting
aid in and trying to get around some of the problems that we have
at the moment.
of Chipping Norton (Con)
We are looking at every single way of getting aid in. Of course,
there are maritime options, and we had a ship leaving Cyprus and
taking aid to Port Said in Egypt. The so-called over-the-beach
option of trying to land aid in Gaza is extremely difficult for
reasons of operational security and other forms of security. On
dropping aid by air, the French and Jordanians did so recently,
but it was less aid than you would get into one truck. The truth
is that the best way to get aid into Gaza is through trucks. As I
said, 500 are needed, 150 are happening, and if you opened up
Kerem Shalom seven days a week, if you had the Nitzana checkpoint
open 24/7 and if you had the people inside Gaza, there would be
plenty of aid. There is no shortage of aid and no shortage of
countries prepared to make the financial commitment. In the end,
trucks are faster, and it is trucks that we need.
(Con)
My Lords, women and children are always disproportionately
affected by conflict. The UK considers itself a global leader on
the women, peace and security agenda and holds the pen for this
at the UN Security Council. Why are we not hearing from women’s
groups? After all, they were integral in bringing peace in both
Northern Ireland and Liberia.
of Chipping Norton (Con)
It is very important that we hear from everybody. One of the
things that I do with the responsibilities of the aid and
development portfolio that is now squarely within the Foreign
Office is to make sure that we listen to all the NGOs, all the
experts and all the people who can make a difference when it
comes to getting aid in and trying to relieve this desperate
humanitarian situation.
(Lab)
When the Foreign Secretary said
“I am worried that Israel has taken action
that might be in breach of international law”,
did he have in mind the principle of proportionality in armed
conflict and whether it is a proportionate self-defence
by Israel to have been
responsible so far for some 24,000 Palestinian deaths, including
10,000 children?
of Chipping Norton (Con)
What I meant when I said that was simply that I worry about these
things. It is my job to worry. The Foreign Office has a job,
which is to look at the legal advice and work out
whether Israel is committed to,
and capable of complying with, international humanitarian law,
and then, based on that judgment, we have to take a series of
actions, including looking at things like export licences. We
always urge Israel to obey
international humanitarian law, and it is important that we do
so.
(Con)
Is it not the case that there would be an immediate ceasefire
tomorrow if Hamas were to release the hostages and lay down its
weapons, and if the criminals who did atrocities on 7 October
were to go and join their leaders in luxury hotels in the
Gulf?
of Chipping Norton (Con)
My noble friend makes a good point, which is that Hamas could end
this tomorrow by saying that it was going to lay down its weapons
or leave. Everyone is aware that we want a sustainable ceasefire.
That means Hamas not in power and not able to launch rockets and
terror, and we have said we want to see an immediate pause so we
can get aid in and hostages out. However, in many ways, the very
best outcome would be to see whether we could convert that
immediate pause for aid and hostages into a sustainable ceasefire
without further hostilities. But for that to happen, a series of
other things would have to happen: there would have to be
immediate negotiations to release all the hostages, the Hamas
leadership would have to leave Gaza, and we would have to be
clear that there was no more danger of rocket and terror attacks
on Israel We would have
to put together something based on the Palestinian Authority,
backed by other Palestinians, going back into Gaza. In many ways,
that would be the best outcome, but if we call now for an
immediate ceasefire with no further fighting when Hamas is still
in power, still launching rockets and still capable of launching
terror attacks, not only would we not have a sustainable
ceasefire and peace but we would have no hope of the thing that I
think many in this House would like to see, which is a two-state
solution.
