Pro-Gaza MP compares Netanyahu to a ‘dog that has tasted blood’

“Will the Foreign Secretary make it plain that the UK Labour government’s position is that we will not recognise the state of Palestine so long as Benjamin Netanyahu fulfills certain conditions?” Khan asked.

Lammy hit back at Khan’s criticism and told the House that after his speech at the United Nations in July where he announced that the UK would recognise a Palestinian state – at the same time Starmer made his announcement in Downing Street – he was embraced by the Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa.

“Yet the honourable gentleman thinks that he knows more and that the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority got it wrong,” Lammy said.

"Of course we are working with our partners; of course we are trying to change the situation on the ground – I make absolutely no apologies for that. We will make our assessments for UNGA [United Nations General Assembly]. The honourable gentleman’s judgment on this occasion is wrong.”

Over the summer, the government was subject to criticism for refusing to clearly state whether recognition would take place if Israeli hostages were still being held by Hamas.

Lammy continued to deny that unilaterally recognising a Palestinian state would amount to a reward for Hamas’s actions on October 7.

“Recognition is rooted in the principle of a two-state solution, which Hamas rejects. We have been clear that any Palestinian state should be demilitarised. Indeed, President Abbas has confirmed that in writing. We see no contradiction between the two-state solution and our deep commitment to Israeli security, because security comes from stable borders, not indefinite occupation”, he told the Commons.

However, shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said that recognition “should not happen while the hostages are still being held in terrorist captivity and while Hamas’s reign of terror continues”.

Oliver Dowden, the Conservative former deputy prime minister and MP for Hertsmere – one of the constituencies with the largest number of Jewish voters – said that a concern of many of his constituents was that the government’s move “will allow Hamas to claim that the vile massacres of October 7 have somehow succeeded”.

Their concerns were echoed by the Board of Deputies, which today cautioned that recognition risks “risk rewarding Hamas’s violence and intransigence rather than maximising pressure for the hostages’ release”.

The Board’s senior vice president Adrian Cohen said: "Whilst there is understandable widespread support for an immediate ceasefire, the Foreign Secretary’s apparent assertion that this would bring the unconditional release of all hostages does not reflect any such commitment made by Hamas.

"Recognition of Palestinian statehood outside a negotiated settlement also risks overlooking wider drivers of the conflict. These include the need for Palestinian Authority reform, and the role of Iran and its proxies.”

He continued: “We must also not lose sight that Hamas initiated this conflict, and its responsibility for suffering on both sides, including through the systematic misuse of civilian infrastructure and aid.”

Despite the government introducing tough measures against Israel, including a partial arms embargo and sanctions against Israeli ministers, some Labour figures have called on the Prime Minister to go further.

In yesterday’s debate Glasgow West MP Patricia Ferguson urged the government to consider more sanctions against Israel and strongly criticised Israel’s actions in Gaza: “I refuse to call it a war because it is not a war; there is one side that has arms and another side that does not have an equality of arms”, she said.

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour Anas Sarwar yesterday labeled Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide” and Benjamin Netanyahu a “war criminal” after a keynote speech he was giving was interrupted by pro-Palestine protesters.