Stephen Doughty

I was disappointed by the tone of the shadow Foreign Secretary’s response. I urge him to think very, very carefully about the comments he made and consider withdrawing them. I thought they were entirely inappropriate and entirely inaccurate. Nobody on this side of the House has any sympathy whatsoever for the activities of Hamas. They are a proscribed organisation and they are appalling. Critically, I was clear that they must play no part in the future government of Gaza and, indeed, that they must disarm. We are committed to that and the whole Government are committed to that. I was disappointed, too, that the right hon. Gentleman did not refer to the actions that need to take place to actually alleviate the suffering in Gaza. The fact is that aid is being denied entry. I have seen it with my own eyes, as have others on this side of the House, and Israel needs to take responsibility. [Interruption.] Israel needs to take responsibility. It has clear responsibilities as the occupying power, legally and morally, and it must act. That is the message we have been taking to it very, very clearly. I am glad that the right hon. Gentleman mentioned the attack at World Central Kitchen. It was an appalling and utterly despicable attack. Brave British nationals, former service personnel, lost their lives, as did people from other countries. We need to see justice and accountability, and that is lacking—sadly and appallingly lacking—at present. We will continue to urge for that justice and accountability to be delivered. I am also disappointed that the right hon. Gentleman made no mention of the fact that his colleagues in the other place voted the other day to regret the expansion of our global human rights and international humanitarian law sanctions regime. That was an extraordinary decision, not least because the powers in that new legislation will enable us to target the individuals responsible anywhere, not just in relation to Gaza and the west bank, but in Sudan, Yemen and many other conflicts that I know he cares about deeply. Perhaps he will explain at some point why his colleagues voted in that way. Lastly, the right hon. Gentleman mentioned Iran. He knows the Government’s position on Iran. He also knows of the very serious actions that we have taken against Iran, which include the huge package of sanctions against Iran announced on 8 September, action against Lebanese Hezbollah, and our condemnation of the proxy and partner groups it is funding and supporting across the middle east, whether in Yemen, Lebanon or Iraq, and the militia groups aligned with it that are causing so much destabilisation and harm. He knows that we condemn Iran’s actions absolutely, and we will continue to take the appropriate action.