Andy McDonald

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair this afternoon, Ms Vaz. I congratulate the hon. Member for Birmingham Perry Barr (Ayoub Khan) on securing this debate. Before the recent recess, I tabled a written question to the Government. The answer is overdue, so I will briefly provide the background and put it to the Minister. On 2 September, the Government revoked licences for all items used in the current conflict in Gaza that go to the Israel Defence Forces. It did so because there exists a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. This is evidenced by events such as the IDF-confirmed use of 2,000 lb bombs, bunker-busting bombs, in a declared safe zone in al-Mawasi in July when they killed at least 90 Palestinians and injured over 30. The revocation includes licences for F-35 fighter jet components where they go directly to Israel. They are revoked, but those in the supply chain in the global pool are not. Clearly, the components can still be used to facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law and to frustrate humanitarian aid. So I ask my Government to make it their policy to seek to negotiate an end-use agreement with F-35 programme supply chain and electronic stockpile management system counterparts, to end the re-export of F-35s to Israel. The Dutch Government have suspended direct sales but continue to supply the global pool, but surely a discussion must be had with partner nations on managing the programme so that the global pool of spare parts is not used to repair Israeli F-35 jets. Unless the issue is raised and resolved with partner nations, I submit that the Government are at risk of breaching our own commitments to upholding international humanitarian law. I pray in aid the UN inquiry, which said today that it found that Israel carried out a “concerted policy” of destroying Gaza’s healthcare systems in the Gaza war—actions amounting to both “war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination”, so I urge my Government to utilise all the levers at their disposal, and accept that the recognition of the state of Palestine is a prerequisite of peace—and that the optimal time to do so is now.