The Middle East minister has accused a pro-Gaza independent MP of invoking “antisemitic tropes” after he asked a question in parliament about “Israel’s thirst for the blood of innocent civilians”.
During an urgent question on Wednesday about Israel’s operations in Lebanon, Iqbal Mohamed, the MP for Dewsbury and Batley said that “as of yesterday, Israel has injured 10,577 people and killed 3,468 people, including 128 health workers,” citing figures from the Lebanese government.
He then asked: “Will this Labour Government do anything meaningful to stop Israel’s thirst for the blood of innocent civilians, its insatiable appetite for the most barbaric violence and its Gaza-fication of Lebanon and the wider Middle East?”
Responding, Falconer, the MP for Lincoln, said: “We’ve got to be a bit careful when we describe the government of Israel.
“I do not think they have a thirst for the blood of innocent civilians. We have to be a bit more careful with our language in this chamber, because that sounds to me like it echoes antisemitic tropes – so I want to take a little bit of issue with the question that I was asked.”
Falconer, who has repeatedly criticised Israeli actions in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank, and defended the government’s recognition of Palestinian statehood, told the House: “I have taken clear steps in relation to Lebanon, and indeed in relation to events in Palestine, and we will continue to do so, but I do think we have to be careful with our language in here.”
But, responding to Falconer’s comment with a post on X, Mohamed said it was “false” to claim his language “echoed antisemitic tropes”.
“I would argue that it is he who needs to watch his language as conflating the abhorrent crimes of this Netanyahu administration and the IDF with all Jewish people is actually antisemitic,” he went on.
Wednesday's intervention is not the first time Mohamed has been criticised over comments he has made in the Chamber.
In January 2025, he appeared to equate Israeli hostages seized by Hamas on October 7 with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons – some of whom are convicted terrorists.
Commenting after the news that British-Israeli hostage Emily Demari would be released, he said: “Let's all pray for the remaining hostages on both sides are released as soon as possible”.
He has also been criticised by Jewish groups for comparing the war in Gaza with the Holocaust.
In a post on X last July, he claimed Israel was “committing a pre-declared live-streamed genocide/holocaust on the Palestinians” and was putting people “into concentration camps”.
The MP for Dewsbury and Batley was one of four MPs elected in July 2024 on explicitly pro-Gaza platforms.
Shortly after the general election, the JC revealed that Mohamed had told a rally to boycott “Zionist” sweets and to “go home and find every brand and every product that has been supporting Israel and Zionism from the beginning
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