Politics
Ed Davey criticised for calling Gaza war a ‘genocide’ following controversial UN report
The Liberal Democrat leader’s use of the charged legal term has angered some members of his party
September 19, 2025 16:01
The Liberal Democrat leader’s use of the charged legal term has angered some members of his party
September 19, 2025 16:01Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has been criticised by some members of his own party for calling the war in Gaza “genocide”, following the release of a controversial UN-backed commission of inquiry.
Speaking on LBC, Davey said: “Now we’ve seen this UN report. We’ve been looking at the International Association of Genocide Scholars. We’ve been looking at Israeli organisations like B’Tselem. They have all said there’s a genocide. And I say with them, there is a genocide.”
His use of the charged legal term has angered the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel (LDFI), which is “fundamentally” opposed to Davey’s position.
A spokesperson for LDFI told the JC: “We fundamentally disagree with the party’s position on this issue and the basis on which it has been reached. Both LDFI and the party continue to call for the release of all of the hostages and for Hamas to have no future role in Gaza.”
The group said it had made its position clear to Davey in a lengthy phone call on Thursday: "LDFI will continue to fight for justice, fairness and a two-state solution. We have made our position clear to the leader directly in a long call yesterday, to his office and to the senior advisers in the party. We will continue to make the strongest possible representations to that effect.”
In an email to supporters, LDFI honorary chairman Gavin Stollar pointed to a review and analysis of the recent report from watchdog UN Watch saying: “Whilst we are opposed to the actions and words of the current Israeli government and recognise the ever-deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, the UN committee report on genocide is fundamentally flawed in nine core areas”.
Stollar noted that the report failed to prove specific intent to destroy a protected group, which he said was “the central and extremely high bar in any genocide case.”
It instead relied on “tortured parsing of statements, selective quotations, and conjecture rather than unambiguous evidence,”he continued.
Davey has previously spoken about his opposition to the war in Gaza.
He “boycotted” the state banquet at Windsor Castle with Donald Trump earlier this week, “to send a message to both Donald Trump and Keir Starmer that they cannot close their eyes and wish away the humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.
Davey’s use of the word genocide marks a shift in rhetoric as he prepares for the Liberal Democrat party conference this weekend.
It comes after the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Emily Thornberry, both called the war a genocide in the wake of the UN report.
Meanwhile, a Foreign Office spokesperson said earlier this week that "any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred should be made following a judgment by a competent national or international court.”
The minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, reiterated this stance, telling the JC: “Our long-standing position is that any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred should be made following a judgment by a competent national or international court.”
The UN report referred to by Davey and Khan has been heavily criticised by Israel, with claims of bias and antisemitism and allegations that it relied on a flawed methodology.
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