Extract from
Attorney-General questions: Hamas and Israel Breaches
of International Law
(York Central)
(Lab/Co-op)
3. If she will hold discussions with Cabinet colleagues on
consulting the International Criminal Court on potential breaches
of international law in the conflict between Hamas
and Israel (900547)
The Attorney General ()
I know that the hon. Lady cares deeply about the region. She and
I—and, indeed, you, Madam Deputy Speaker—visited the region
together some years ago, and I know that at the current time all
of us will be thinking about the places we visited and the people
we met. In answer to her question, the ICC started an
investigation into the situation in Palestine in March 2021.
I thank the Attorney General for her response. In the light of
the brutality and sexual violence perpetrated against Israeli
civilians by the terrorists of Hamas, and the scale of the
indiscriminate bombing of tens of thousands of Palestinians,
including children, in Gaza, how is she urging the UK Government
to advocate for the end of the killing to ensure that the
International Criminal Court can gather the most detailed
evidence to weigh the actions of all parties against
international law at the earliest opportunity?
The Attorney General
The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and, indeed, the whole
of the UK Government have consistently urged that international
humanitarian law must be followed in this case. The ICC
prosecutor, who is a British-born barrister—Karim Khan, with whom
I have had a number of extremely helpful meetings over the course
of my time as Attorney General—has said that the investigation
is
“ongoing and extends to the escalation of hostilities and
violence since the attacks that took place on 7 October”.
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
I call the spokesman for the Scottish National party.
Brendan O'Hara (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)
Article 86 of the Rome statute says that, in relation to the work
of the International Criminal Court, state parties shall
“cooperate fully with the Court in its investigation and
prosecution of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court.”
Given that in 2022 the UK referred Russia to the ICC, can we
assume that the UK will comply with any request from the ICC for
footage from the reconnaissance flights operating over Gaza? If
not, what would be the legal basis for refusing an ICC
request?
The Attorney General
As I said, the UK supports the ICC and its chief prosecutor Karim
Khan. We do have surveillance flights operating in the region.
The primary purpose of those is to help with the hostage
situation. We will say once again that we very much hope that the
hostages will be released immediately. It is absolutely the case
that we will continue to urge all parties to continue to abide by
international humanitarian law.
Extract from Business
Questions
(Hammersmith) (Lab): Since
the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Government have rightly made
time in this Chamber to debate that terrible conflict. The
Israel-Gaza war is equally horrific, from the killing of Israelis
on 7 October to the deaths of thousands of Palestinian civilians
that continue daily. No doubt the Backbench Business Committee
would look sympathetically on a request for a debate, but should
this not be debated in Government time? May we have a day’s
debate on it as soon as possible?
: I fully understand the hon.
Gentleman’s request. On his first point, he will know that the
Foreign Secretary has been in Washington talking with our
partners both about Ukraine and the ongoing situation in Israel and Gaza. I will
certainly ensure that both he and his Minister in the Commons, my
right hon. Friend the Member for Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell),
have heard the hon. Gentleman’s request.
Extract from Commons
statement on the BBC
(Southend West) (Con): I
welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, and particularly the
review of whether the BBC is being fair to taxpayers. I have to
say, constituents in Southend and Leigh-on-Sea do not consider
that they get value for money from the licence fee, and nor do
they think that £3.8 billion is a good amount for the licence
fee. Many have written to me to express profound concerns about
the BBC’s coverage of the horrendous conflict between Israel and Hamas. This
was about not just the BBC’s failure to talk about Hamas as an
internationally proscribed terrorist organisation, but their
genuine belief that BBC bias is stoking anti-Israel sentiment in
our country, which, as I am sure the Secretary of State will
agree, is very concerning. So will the review cover three points,
as well as all the others: first, the impartiality of content;
secondly, whether the licence fee should be mandatory any longer;
and thirdly, the need to decriminalise non-payment of the licence
fee?
The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (): I understand my hon. Friend’s
concerns about the language that the BBC has chosen to use in
relation to Hamas. I have made clear my views—they are public on
this issue—and I have stated on the record and raised with the
BBC privately that Hamas is a terrorist organisation both legally
and factually, and that it is important to call them what they
are. As for her constituents’ concerns, all of us, of course, get
comments from our constituents, and that is an excellent avenue
for people to pursue. However, I remind her constituents and
others that there are also formal channels through which they can
make their views known, if they feel strongly that they should
pursue those matters. We are looking at impartiality in the
mid-term review, which we will publish shortly. Like her, I am
also concerned about the prosecution of people and I have said
that I will look at that in the charter review.
Commons debate on
Islamaphobia
Westminster Hall debate
on Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UN Convention on
Genocide
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and UN Convention on Genocide
