The letter also called for a full arms embargo, sanctions against the Jewish State and support for ‘international investigations into war crimes’
August 15, 2025 10:21
A senior Labour MP is among a group of a dozen parliamentarians who signed a letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, urging him to expel the Israeli ambassador over the “genocide” in Gaza.
Abtisam Mohamed, who sits on the influential Foreign Affairs Select Committee, was listed alongside a collection of Green, SNP, Plaid Cymru in backing the letter organised by the pro-Gaza Independent Alliance group of MPs.
They were joined by new independent Zara Sultana, who resigned from Labour last month to form a new party with former party leader Jeremy Corbyn (which is yet to fully materialise), as well as by Diane Abbott, who remains suspended from the party after appearing to double down last month on comments she made in 2023 suggesting that Jews do not experience racism, only “prejudice”.
Mohamed was also one of two Labour MPs who were deported from Israel in April on the grounds that they “were actively involved in promoting sanctions against Israeli ministers and had supported campaigns aimed at boycotting the State of Israel”, causing a diplomatic spat between the two countries.
Updated letter requesting the government act urgently in the face of genocide in Gaza. Thank you to all my Parliamentary colleagues for signing. pic.twitter.com/XYtlUytJHW
— Adnan Hussain MP (@AdnanHussainMP) August 14, 2025
The letter, sent to Starmer yesterday, read: “We are writing to express our horror at Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s announcement of his government’s intention to carry out a full military occupation of the Gaza Strip.”
The MPs labelled the plan “the latest escalation in a campaign that has already led to the near-total destruction of Gaza, the systematic starvation of its civilian population and the deaths of countless thousands.”
"Mounting evidence… indicates that the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza amount to acts of genocide – in both intent and effect,” they continued.
"As a signatory to the Genocide Convention, the UK has a clear and binding legal obligation to prevent genocide wherever it occurs.”
In that vein, the signatories called on the government to take six specific steps.
These included the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to the UK, the imposition of a full arms embargo and economic sanctions on the Jewish State, and supporting “international investigations into war crimes and genocide”.
Israel has long denied allegations of genocide against the Palestinians and insisted that the death toll in Gaza, which is assessed by the Hamas-run Ministry of Health, is overestimated, as well as unreliable due to its failure to distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.
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