Middle East minister urges MPs to be ‘careful in our language’ after Corbyn’s ‘Greater Israel’ claims

Under the proposal, Israel seeks to link the settlement of Ma’ale Adumim – established east of Jerusalem more than 40 years ago and now home to 40,000 residents – to the Mount Scopus ridge, which lies within Jerusalem’s jurisdiction.

The opposition to construction in the area is primarily due to the fact that such a connection would divide the northern and southern parts of the West Bank.

This would make it impractical to connect East Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Ramallah, which are all under Palestinian control and seen by proponents of the two-state solution as the basis for a contiguous Palestinian state.

After a number of questions from MPs, Corbyn said that, while “this hand-wringing over the E1 zone is very important”, “in reality what is happening is part of the Greater Israel plan”.

“Israel already controls 70 per cent of the Gaza Strip; it is squeezing the whole population into the sea or into Egypt,” he went on.

"It is already supporting, by military means, all the activities of the settlers, their abominable behaviour towards Palestinian people, and the construction of massive settlements all over the West Bank.”

“In reality, it is Israel’s strategy, Israel’s plan, and Israel’s determination that we are up against. Merely condemning Israel for this occupation of E1 will achieve nothing.

"There has to be a policy of stopping all arms trading and military co-operation of any sort with Israel until it ends this settlement policy. Anything less will just be hand-wringing that the Israeli government will ignore.”

But the former Labour leader’s fierce rhetoric earned him a rebuke from Falconer, who emphasised the opposition to settlement expansion in Israel and among British Jews.

“I do not think the policy of settlements is supported across the whole of Israel. That is very clear in the discussions about the coming elections. There are many voices in Israel who recognise the terrible harm being done to the state of Israel by the expansion of settlements”, he told the Commons.

Replying to Corbyn, Falconer then returned to a point initially made by Conservative MP Dr Andrew Murrison about the need to protect Britain’s Jewish community from the consequences of conflict in the Middle East.

“I hope you will forgive me, Madam Deputy Speaker, if I come back to the point about antisemitism. We must be really careful in our language.

"There are many, many Israelis—and indeed many, many British Jews—who can see the terrible damage being done by violent settlement, and we must not tar communities in this country or the whole nation of Israel with the same brush.”

After the debate, on social media, Corbyn took issue with Falconer’s response to him, branding it a “completely baseless smear” and “a total and utter disgrace”.

In another post, he shared a letter he intended to send to Falconer and said that he’d raise the reply he received as a point of order in the House of Commons.

Corbyn, under whose leadership the Labour Party was found responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination following an investigation by the country’s equalities watchdog, then appeared to accuse Falconer of antisemitism.

“It is plainly false - and frankly disgusting - to imply that my statement served to ‘tar communities in this country’ with ‘the same brush.’ At no point did I state that settlements are supported by the entirety of the population of Israel,” he wrote.

"Nor did I make any reference to British Jews at all. In levelling such a baseless accusation, you appear to have conflated the actions of Israel with the views of Jewish people - itself a textbook case of antisemitism.”