Politics
Labour will appoint Middle East peace envoy, says David Lammy
The shadow foreign secretary also said every time every time a Jew is intimidated in the UK it is an ‘attack on Britain’
November 28, 2023 17:09
The shadow foreign secretary also said every time every time a Jew is intimidated in the UK it is an ‘attack on Britain’
November 28, 2023 17:09A Labour government would appoint a Middle East peace envoy and “redouble support” for the two state solution, David Lammy has said.
Speaking at the Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) annual lunch, the shadow foreign secretary also emphasised Sir Keir Starmer’s support for the proscription of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Britain.
He went on to say the Labour Party wanted to build on the Abraham Accords while working to combat settler violence in the West Bank.
In government, Labour would pursue "peace not as a slogan but as a programme,” Lammy claimed.
The Tottenham MP further expressed his support for the British Jewish community and said Labour was committed to “moral clarity” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Every time a Jew is intimidated and is forced to take off his or her kippah, it is an attack on Britain,” Lammy added.
“Every synagogue defaced is an attack on Britain. Every chant of hate is an attack on Britain. Every Jewish child forced to stay home from school is an attack on Britain.”
He went on to say: "We oppose those who use their antizionism to cloak their antisemitism and we oppose those who refuse to call Hamas what they are - terrorists."
"We oppose those who use their antizionism to cloak their antisemitism and we oppose those who refuse to call Hamas what they are - terrorists."- Shadow foreign secretary @DavidLammy at the LFI Annual Lunch 2023 pic.twitter.com/DoenWV4uaj
— Labour Friends of Israel (@_LFI) November 28, 2023
Earlier this month, Lammy visited Israel, met with President Isaac Herzog and visited the West Bank.
At the time, he said: “The next Labour government will work tirelessly to play our part in the hard diplomacy required for a two-state solution. It is the only way to deliver long-term peace, security and independence to both Israel and Palestine.”
Speaking before Lammy at the event, Israel’s embassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely, said the October 7 massacre “was not a terror attack” but instead came with “genocidal intention”.
"It was 100 per cent the same as the Nazi's intention to massacre all Jews,” she said. "We are now in a bad replica of the 1930s."
Speaking to assembled Labour MPs, prospective parliamentary candidates and Jewish community figures, Hotovely also thanked Sir Keir for not supporting a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and thanked Lammy for visiting the Jewish state.
"We will fight until the end of Hamas, we won't rest until we change the ideology that led to October 7,” she concluded.
Israeli Ambassador @TzipiHotovely at the LFI Annual Lunch 2023:
— Labour Friends of Israel (@_LFI) November 28, 2023
"The pogrom of Saturday 7 October was a crime against the people of Israel […] babies, Holocaust survivors, young people at a music festival, the elderly"
And calls for the UK to proscribe the IRGC pic.twitter.com/DCeFQFP26w
Birmingham MP Steve McCabe, who chairs LFI in Parliament, echoed Lammy’s call for the IRGC to be banned, adding that “the world has failed the Jewish people”.
He said the international community must help to "free Gaza from Hamas,” and “free Israel from terror."
McCabe added: "We've never met under so dark a cloud… [after October 7] we know Israel is not the safe haven that Jews deserve.”
Sunday's march against antisemitism, however, shows "the fightback has begun," he said.
Before he spoke, those attending the LFI lunch sung the Hatikva and watched a photo montage of the Israelis who were killed and taken hostage on October 7.