Afternoon summary
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Ambassador defends UK's decision to stop automatically voting against item 7 UN motions criticising Israel
The Foreign Office has defended its decision to stop automatically voting against motions at the UN human rights council (UNHRC) under a procedure that singles out Israel.
Last week the Conservatives said it was “disgraceful” that the government was changing its stance on so-called item 7 motions.
The UNHRC has a permanent feature on its agenda, called item 7, set aside for matters relating to the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories. Israel claims this is discriminatory because no other country is singled out in this way in UNHRC debates.
When Jeremy Hunt was foreign secretary in 2019, the UK adopted a policy of always voting against item 7 motions as a protest against this process – even though it was still happy to vote for motions criticising Israel’s record on human rights tabled under other parts of the agenda.
Last week, after it was revealed that the UK is dropping this policy, and will in future abstain on item 7 motions, Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, attacked this as a concession to sectarianism. She said:
It’s disgraceful that Labour are ditching the longstanding cross-party commitment to vote against item 7 resolutions unfairly targeting Israel.
By abandoning this principle, Labour are surrendering to those who wish to single Israel out for special punishment. Questions will rightly be asked about whether this is an attempt to pander to sectarianism here in Britain.
The Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies have also criticised the Foreign Office’s shift in position.
But today Eleanor Sanders, the UK’s ambassador at the UNHRC, defended the new approach. In a speech at the council, she said:
Today the UK has abstained on all three resolutions tabled under this agenda item. This represents a change in our voting position since we were last members of the council, when the UK by default voted no on all resolutions under Item 7, including where those votes contradicted stated UK policy and whilst conditions on the ground worsened.
Our abstentions today reflect our continued objection to the unfair procedural mechanism by which these legitimate issues are raised. However, the UK remains resolute in its support for the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, and we are proud to have taken the historic decision to recognise Palestine in September 2025.
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