Israeli opposition leaders have denied claims made by a Labour MP that they backed UK sanctions against their own country.
In a debate on June 10, Cat Eccles told the Commons that she had “recently visited Israel and Palestine on a delegation and met opposition leaders, and their top ask of the UK – what they said would be helpful for them – was strong sanctions”.
Eccles, who won her West Midlands constituency of Stourbridge at last year’s general election, visited Israel in late May as part of a group of six parliamentarians from Labour Friends of Israel, timed for the 600-day anniversary of Israel’s conflict with Hamas.
At the time, the JC reported that the delegation met Israel’s president Isaac Herzog, deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel and opposition party leaders Yair Lapid and Yair Golan, as well as figures from the Palestinian Authority (PA).
However, spokespeople for both Lapid and Golan have both emphatically denied Eccles’ claims and told the JC that they did not call for sanctions against Israel or against ministers within the Israeli government during their meeting with the LFI delegation.
Eccles’ comments were made during a debate following Middle East minister Hamish Falconer’s statement to Parliament announcing sanctions against far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.
The pair were hit with asset freezes, travel bans and directorship disqualifications over what the Foreign Office called their “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the West Bank.
Welcoming the decision, she urged the government to place “strong sanctions on all Ministers in the Israeli government”.
“This is not just about rhetoric; it is about actions. With thousands of deaths in Gaza, we need to see stronger sanctions on all ministers in the Israeli Government”, she added.
Falconer responded that the sanctions were imposed on Smotrich and Ben-Gvir in their personal capacity and were “not sanctions on the two ministries that the men represent”.
“They are sanctions on the men themselves and the extremist rhetoric that they are responsible for. We would keep further sanctions under review on individuals who conducted rhetoric of that kind”, he added.
Cat Eccles and Labour Friends of Israel have been contacted for comment.
