MP Shockat Adam led a debate about British military co-operation with genocidal Israel. Adam, the representative for Leicester South, brought forward the discussion during a week where Israel has launched 100 simultaneous strikes on the Gaza Strip. At least 436 Palestinians have been killed. Al Jazeera reported:
including at least 183 children, 94 women, 34 elderly people, and 125 men. At least 678 others have been injured, many critically, with more still trapped under the rubble.
This follows a purposeful throttling of any aid into the Gaza strip. Many of those who died will have done so whilst starving, having a lack of basic medical equipment, no water, and no electricity.
UK complicity with Israel
During the debate, Adam laid bare British complicity in the ongoing Israeli genocide of Palestine:
In addition to the manufacture and supply of F-35 parts, it appears that RAF Marham in Norfolk has been used at least seven times to send spare parts directly to Israel. Since declaring a so-called suspension of arms exports, the UK has issued 34 new licences, including those for essential aircraft components.
The F-35 parts Adam referred to are fighter jets that the UK produces parts for along with partners including Australia, Canada, and Italy. Earlier this year, the Canary reported:
Israel has used these jets in its bombardment of Palestinians in Gaza. An F-35 was used in July 2024 to drop three 2,000 lb bombs in an attack on a so-called “safe zone” on Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis, killing 90 Palestinians.
Despite all partners to the jets programme having legal obligations to halt arms exports to Israel, governments continue to allow the transfer of parts to Israel.
Adam expressed his dismay at Labour refusing to condemn Israeli forces:
I accept that no one in the Labour Government has openly called for the Israel Defence Forces to be given a Nobel peace prize, but we have not even summoned the Israeli ambassador to express our concerns or contemplated economic sanctions because, in the words of our Foreign Secretary:
“Israel remains an important ally. We have an important trading relationship, worth £6.1 billion last year and involving 38,000 British jobs.”
The above remarks came from David Lammy, who initially stated that Israel could be in violation of international law. Not ones to let such a blistering takedown (!) of Israel lie, Lammy quickly jumped back to the party line presumably after a sharp rebuke from Downing Street.
Nevertheless, Adam summed up the crux of the problem as the Labour government perceives it in heartbreaking fashion:
I say to the family of the children who were burned alive last night that I am sorry; the Government say that we cannot afford to lose the money.
Protests
It has been well established that Britain has contributed parts essential to the Israeli military in order to continue their carpet bombing of Palestine. Britain has also abstained several times from votes amongst the international community to sanction Israel. Keir Starmer, a human rights lawyer, has refused to call what Amnesty International have determined is indeed a genocide. This Labour government has done everything it can to silence dissent from within its ranks, and to support Israel.
Even so, several MPs took up a defence of the British military during proceedings. Luke Akehurst, who the Canary’s James Wright noted called himself a “Zionist shitlord,” said:
Does the hon. Gentleman not accept that the Government have introduced arms export licence suspensions, which target any weapons that might be of British origin that would be used in Gaza, but are attempting to balance that with the needs of the IDF to defend itself against acts of aggression—for instance, the Iranian missile attacks in other theatres in which the IDF is operating?
Effectively, Akehurst is balancing the lives and deaths of Palestinians against IDF operations in other regions. As Adam alluded to above, how many Palestinian lives are a bearable cost? Labour’s Tahir Ali also pointed out that:
Israel is not using weapons to defend itself, but rather using them against innocent Palestinians.
Adam then brought up how Britain’s partnership with Israel extends beyond arms sales:
Our military co-operation extends beyond arms sales; it is operational, especially when it comes to using our airbase in Akrotiri, Cyprus. In one year alone, from December 2023 to November 2024, the UK conducted 645 surveillance and recon missions, which amounts to almost two flights a day.
Akehurst, again, seemed to rubbish the claims and Adam drove the point home:
Were we involved, directly or indirectly, in the Israeli operation in Nuseirat in June 2024, when 276 Palestinians were killed at the rescue of four Israeli hostages? Critically, has our intelligence been used to conduct air strikes? If so, under article 25 of the Rome statute, is the UK now legally complicit in war crimes?
Adam’s persistence is a rare stand taken against the increasingly loud voices defending Zionism and Israel’s actions more broadly. Labour MP Andy McDonald and Green MP Siân Berry both affirmed that the UK has a moral and legal responsibility to stop aiding Israel’s genocide.
Democracy
However, such arguments didn’t appear to sway the likes of Mark Francois:
There is an inscription on the Korean war memorial in Washington, which says quite simply, “Freedom is not free.” That freedom has to be defended, and in the modern world that requires military technology.
While I can understand the passion articulated by the hon. Member for Leicester South in this debate, I say to him most respectfully that he is able to make those arguments in a democratic forum and publicly criticise the Government of the day because he is fortunate to live in a parliamentary democracy. That is not something we can say of all the countries in the middle east.
In their coverage of the debate, the Middle East Eye responded to this moment of the debate with:
It is unclear why the issue of democracy in the Middle East was relevant to what Adam had said.
Let’s be frank. Francois was being racist. He was stereotyping Shockat Adam’s racial background as one of a lawless, undemocratic, dictatorship. It’s a tactic often used by racists that, when faced with legitimate argument – or sometimes merely the presence of brown people – they jump into civilising mode and start spouting forth about freedom and democracy.
Francois’ comments have no place in a discussion about the UK’s complicity with Israeli genocide. Adam is not “fortunate” to live in a parliamentary democracy – if anything he has the misfortune to be forced to work with a racist who uses his own freedom to advocate for further warmongering whilst citing the vast amounts of money to be made.
Growing evidence against Israel – and the UK
As Israel further continues its genocide against Palestinians, there is mounting evidence that Britain is supporting Israel’s atrocities. Lammy and Starmer have been busy denying the horrors the rest of us are seeing on our social media feeds.
Children bombed and buried under rubble, people who were observing Ramadan blown into pieces, planned strategic strikes causing havoc on an already besieged population. Shockat Adam, and the other MPs who laid out the facts of Britain’s complicity with Israel are a rare breath of fresh air amongst the rot of Parliament.
Featured image via screengrab
