Disappointing Foreign Affairs Committee report is a missed opportunity

Today, the Foreign Affairs Committee has released its report on “The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict”.

CAA had made a submission to the Committee during its inquiry. The submission can be read here.

We made the following recommendations to the Committee: 

• The Government should treat Hamas as an illegitimate entity and ensure that any policy that it pursues ultimately aims towards a world in which Hamas does not exist. It would be unconscionable for the British Government to risk appearing to endorse a group that is proscribed in the UK as a respectable partner abroad.
• The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) must make greater efforts to ensure the safe and swift return of all of the remaining hostages. This must be undertaken in a way that does not legitimise or empower Hamas, especially through pressure on Iran, Qatar and Egypt, all of which have relations with and leverage over Hamas.
• All of the organisations that were involved in the 7th October 2023 attack must be proscribed in full under the Terrorism Act 2000.
• Hamas is an offshoot of the Society of the Muslim Brothers, popularly known as the Muslim Brotherhood. This organisation is proscribed in a number of countries, and the UK should follow suit.
• Ansar Allah (the Houthis) is a terror group backed by Iran with a long history of violent attacks in a number of different countries, and whose slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, Damn the Jews.” The Houthis must be proscribed in full under the Terrorism Act 2000.
• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the US, Canada, Israel, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Britain must finally follow suit, in fulfilment of Labour’s pre-election pledge.
• Any British funding to United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) must be carefully vetted to ensure that it does not directly or indirectly benefit terrorist organisations or promote antisemitism, in addition to rigorous safeguards against corruption. The FCDO must disclose whether legal advice was sought or obtained in relation to the decision to resume funding to UNRWA, and must publish a summary of the legal advice. British Jews in particular have a clear and significant interest in understanding how the British Government is guaranteeing that funds to UNRWA are not being used to directly or indirectly benefit terrorist organisations or promote antisemitism.

The report does not adopt any of these recommendations.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This report is extremely disappointing. Yet again, our politicians have decided to take the easy way out, recycling the same tired formulations based on the same outdated assumptions that brought about the 7th October atrocity and the wider war. Such a shame that they did not adopt a single one of our recommendations. The point of these inquiries is to listen. This report shows scant evidence of that. Consequently, it will do nothing to advance peace abroad or calm extremism and hatred at home. What a missed opportunity.”