Sir Keir Starmer has shut down an anti-Israel tirade by Corbynite MP Zarah Sultana at Prime Minister’s Questions this afternoon.
The Coventry South MP accused the Prime Minister of blocking the detention of Gideon Saar, whom she termed an “unindicted war criminal”, during his visit to the UK, despite there being no warrant for his arrest.
Sultana accused Saar of being complicit in “alleged war crimes in Gaza, including siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital and the torture of its director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya”.
She lamented that “the red carpet was rolled out” for Israel’s top diplomat – who met foreign secretary David Lammy and Jewish communal leaders last week – and claimed “Saar has justified blocking vital humanitarian aid to Gaza, backed the legal annexation of Palestinian land and rejected a Palestinian state”.
“The Prime Minister is a human rights lawyer. So, surely, he knows that the UK has a legal duty to uphold international law. Why, then did he block the arrest of an unindicted war criminal?”, Sultana asked.
Starmer simply responded with “I didn’t”, which brought Prime Minister’s Questions to a close.
Saar was the subject of an application to the government for an arrest warrant ahead of his visit on the basis of alleged war crimes but the request was denied. Nor is he subject, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is, to an arrest warrant for the International Criminal Court.
The action against Saar last week was brought by anti-Israel group the Hind Rajab Foundation, founded by former Hezbollah fighter Dyab Abou Jahjah, – who once blamed the JC for him being banned from entering the UK – which submitted an application for an arrest warrant to the Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions in collaboration with legal campaigners the Global Legal Action Network.
A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office told the JC at the time: “The Law Officers have declined to provide consent to the prosecution of Gideon Saar”.
They added: “International law requires that immunity is accorded to serving ministers for foreign affairs in domestic criminal proceedings irrespective of the subject matter, or gravity, of any complaint.”
Sultana was elected a Labour MP and formerly chaired the party’s Socialist Campaign Group, but was suspended for voting against the government on a key issue. She has long been a vocal critic of Israel in Parliament.
In March, she was criticised by Labour Friends of Israel for posing for a photograph with Francesca Albanese, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who has previously compared Israel to Nazi Germany.
Labour sources suggested to the JC that her meeting with Albanese hindered her chances of getting the party whip back. While some rebel MPs had the whip restored in February, Sultana did not.
During her suspension, in an interview with the Big Issue, Sultana accused the Labour government of being complicit in “genocide” and indicated she would likely rebel against the government in the future if she was allowed to return.
