The chair of the House of Commons’ influential Foreign Affairs Select Committee has accused Israel of “egging on” US president Donald Trump and derailing a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear programme.
Speaking in the Commons on Monday evening, following a statement from the foreign secretary on the conflict between Israel and Iran, Dame Emily Thornberry said: “It is completely understandable that Israel feels threatened by a bellicose neighbour with uranium mines and a nuclear programme, but the rest of the world is unanimous in saying that the way to deal with Iran is through discussion, negotiation and a nuclear agreement.”
She went on to defend the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), agreed with Iran under the Obama administration in 2015, saying: “There once was such a deal, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of Baroness Cathy Ashton [formerly the European Commission’s representative on foreign affairs] among others, but that deal was derailed by President Trump, egged on by Israel.”
In 2015, Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington to address the US Congress and critique what he called a “very bad” deal. Trump eventually withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, describing it as “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into”.
In the Commons, David Lammy detailed the eliminationist rhetoric from Iranian leaders towards Israel and said it was “no surprise that Israel considers the Iranian nuclear programme an existential threat”.
“[Ayatollah] Khamenei said in 2018 that Israel was a ‘cancerous tumour’ that should be ‘removed and eradicated’. We have always supported Israeli security. That is why Britain has sought to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon through extensive diplomacy. We agree with President Trump when he says that negotiations are necessary and must lead to a deal”, he said.
Responding for the Conservatives, shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel asked for reassurance about any potential reaction by Iran against British targets from groups like Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)
“Has the threat risk level been reassessed, and is extra support being provided to secure synagogues, schools and other parts of the Jewish community in the UK?”, she asked.
The foreign secretary replied by saying that the government would be bringing forward with new legislation to “deal with the state threats from the IRGC in the coming months”, which reports suggest could see the IRGC finally proscribed, similarly to measures under existing laws used to ban terrorist groups.
Reacting to Lammy’s statement, some MPs shared their concerns about the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear programme.
Bristol North East MP Damien Egan, who is Jewish, said: “A painful lesson of Israeli and, indeed, Jewish history is that when someone says that they want to destroy them, we must believe them.”
The Labour MP continued: “The Iranian regime has made its intentions to destroy Israel clear for decades now. We will all be familiar with the term ‘never again’, which came out of the concentration camps of Europe… this is one of those moments where we can say that never again is now.”
Meanwhile, Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh, who has been critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza, said that “on this occasion we must stand shoulder to shoulder with our Israeli ally”.
“The fact is, Iran is a death cult, and death cults like the Nazis or Iran cannot be appeased simply through diplomacy”, he added.
By contrast, though, left-wing Labour MP Richard Burgon urged the government “to also address Israel’s vast nuclear arsenal” as part of a push for “a nuclear-free Middle East”.
During the course of his statement, the foreign secretary also urged all British nationals in Israel to register their presence with the Foreign Office.
He went on to say that the government was signposting “border crossing points, and we are sending rapid deployment teams to Egypt and Jordan to bolster our consular presence near the border with Israel. That presence has already been supporting British nationals on the ground”.
Israeli airspace is currently closed due to the conflict with Iran, making exiting the country challenging.
Hampstead and Highgate MP Tulip Siddiq highlighted the case of three of her constituents who were stranded in Israel, having visited for a wedding.
“They sent me a desperate message saying that they are worried about their safety and are facing a daily cascade of missiles. They have registered their presence with the Foreign Office”, Siddiq said.
A similar point was raised by Hertsmere MP Sir Oliver Dowden, who urged Lammy to elaborate on what “contingency plans” are being undertaken “for repatriation should the situation deteriorate further and that be required”.
Lammy responded by saying that the government had “sent a rapid force of diplomats to the border to facilitate exit” and that the government was doing all it could to help facilitate routes out of the country given the closure of Israel’s airspace and lack of commercial flights.
He also mentioned that earlier on Monday morning he had met with former hostage Yocheved Lifschitz and her family.
He praised their “courage and dignity in the face of Hamas’s barbarism” and said they were “a reminder of the plight of those still cruelly held in Gaza. We will not stop striving to free the hostages and end the war”, while also describing the situation in Gaza as “appalling”.
“This government will not take our eye off the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. We will not stop calling for aid restrictions to be lifted and for an immediate ceasefire, and we will not forget about the hostages”, he added.
However, former Conservative cabinet minister Kit Malthouse said the government wasn’t doing enough for the civilian population in Gaza.
“What comfort should all the bereaved families in Gaza take from the fact that he is keeping his eye on this situation?”, he asked.
The foreign secretary hit back: “Today in my office I was with a hostage family. A wonderful woman who lost her husband was there with her daughter asking me to keep Gaza at the forefront of my mind and to raise it in the Chamber this afternoon.”
“We are absolutely clear that aid needs to get in, that hostages need to get out, and that we want to see a ceasefire”, he added.
