The Leader of the House of Commons (): I remind the House that
the Government will again outline our position on the very
serious matter of Israel and Gaza in a written
ministerial statement soon....
(Harwich and North Essex)
(Con): May I suggest that the priority of the House should be to
command the confidence of our voters? I do not think that they,
or indeed a majority in the House, feel that we resolved anything
on the question of Gaza and Israel yesterday,
so may I suggest to my right hon. Friend that the Government take
up the suggestion made by the shadow Leader of the House and hold
a debate on the subject in Government time, on a Government
motion, so that the motion and every amendment can be considered?
That would draw a line under this matter.
: I thank my hon. Friend for
his suggestion. It is sad that what happened yesterday with
regard to the Speaker happened when the SNP was trying to hold an
Opposition day debate on the most serious of issues. I heard what
he said, and will be speaking to business managers.
(Brigg and Goole) (Con): I was
in Israel last
week meeting with hostage families, survivors and friends. I
actually felt safer in Israel than
I do in this country at this moment in time. I have two
reflections on that visit and on what happened yesterday. First,
nobody in this House has any business or agency at all in telling
the state of Israel where
it is able to operate to seek to rescue hostages who are being
raped by the Islamic terrorists who hold them. Secondly, if we
have a rerun of yesterday’s debate, exactly the same thing will
happen again and Members will not vote with their hearts because
they are frightened and scared.
What do we expect? For months I have been standing here talking
about the people on our streets who are a demanding deaths for
Jews, jihad and intifada, as the police stand by and allow that
to happen. Last night, a genocidal call, “From the river to the
sea, Palestine will be free”, was projected on to this building.
That message says no Jew is welcome in the state of Israel—in
that land. This is going to continue to happen because we are not
dealing with it.
Will the Leader of the House explain what will be different if we
have a rerun of the debate? How will hon. Members be able to vote
with their hearts and consciences? Too many will not do that at
the moment because of the threats we are receiving—threats that
in some cases are telling us to leave this country and that we or
our families should be subjected to pain and death?
: I thank my hon. Friend for
raising this. I do not think there is any Member of this House
who has not received threats, intimidation and, increasingly,
death threats to them and members of their family. I have had
many such threats and other hon. Members have spoken about their
experiences on the Floor of the House. We can do many things with
regard to physical security, and I again thank the House
authorities for what they did yesterday. The matter he raises of
the projections on to this building last night is being looked at
by the Speaker’s Office, parliamentary security, the Metropolitan
police and Westminster City Council, which will be responsible
for pursuing prosecutions.
I say again to all Members of the House: we are elected to carry
out our duty and take our responsibilities seriously. It is often
a frightening task, but we cannot let those threats change this
place or what we think is the right course of action. If we do
that, they will have won. They will never win. We have to show
courage and our constituents need us to show courage on these
matters. We must vote and do what we think is right.
