Starmer told Shockat Adam MP: “Most of what he says is simply not right”. Was that true?
Keir Starmer has been called out for denying facts about Israel’s destruction of Gaza.
During Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Independent MP Shockat Adam, said: “This week, the Israeli government approved a plan to officially conquer Gaza.”
He added that Minister Smotrich declared yesterday that Gaza would be destroyed and Palestinians will have to leave for third countries.
Adam said: “This comes at the end of the extermination of over 50,000 Palestinian men, women and children and at the same time simultaneous expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.”
He then asked if the Prime Minister would acknowledge ethnic cleansing Israel is carrying out and end UK military cooperation with Israel, including providing F-35 fighter jet parts.
“Or will he make Britain complicit in war crimes and be the Prime Minister to answer at The Hague?,” he said.
In response, Starmer said: “Mr Speaker, most of what he says is simply not right”, before giving a brief statement on the situation in Gaza and the West Bank.
Regarding Adam’s comment about F-35 fighter jet parts, the government stopped direct exports of the parts to Israel in September. However, there is a loophole whereby spare F-35 parts can still enter Israel if they go via another country such as the US.
On the PoliticsJOE podcast, presenters fact-checked Adam’s claims and found they were accurate. They also challenged Starmer’s dismissal as disingenuous.
PoliticsJOE presenter Ed Campbell said: “What parts there are incorrect? Like it’s so disingenuous to just lie about this.”
The government is facing mounting pressure from MPs to impose sanctions on Israel and halt arms exports.
During a ministerial statement on Tuesday, Labour MP Clive Betts said to Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer: “I agree with the Minister’s comments and condemnation of Israel’s actions in Gaza.”
“The problem is that I have agreed with him every time he has made these condemnations of Israel, and the whole House generally has joined him in that, but the reality is that Israel is taking absolutely no notice of the Government’s position.”
Betts then called on the government to rapidly recognise a Palestinian state and “seriously consider sanctions against Israel”.
In a post on X yesterday, Jeremy Corbyn said: “It’s quite simple.
“You cannot say you oppose Israel’s plan for the mass ethnic cleansing of Gaza if you keep providing them with the weapons they need to carry it out.
“The government’s refusal to end all arms sales to Israel is becoming more egregious by the day.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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