THE Labour Government has been urged to “come clean” after refusing to say which Israeli government representatives a minister met on a recent trip to the country.
Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s development minister in the Foreign Office, travelled to Israel as part of a three-day trip to the Middle East in December.
The UK Government said only that she would meet with “Israeli representatives”, while Dodds said she would meet "counterparts ... in Israel".
However, it was made clear who from the Palestine side the Labour minister would meet: Prime Minister Dr Mohammad Mustafa and planning minister Dr Wael Zakout.
Subsequent social media posts from Dodds further made public her meetings with Palestinian politicians and included photos, but made no mention of who from the Israeli side she met.
Asked three times by The National to detail who from the Israeli Knesset or government Dodds met with, the Foreign Office has refused three times.
Law, his party’s international trade spokesperson at Westminster, said it was “particularly concerning” that the Foreign Office had not responded to The National’s press enquiries or delivered a statement to the Commons on Dodds’s trip.
“Can you explain the lack of transparency to date in your dealings with representatives of the Israeli Government?" he wrote.
“While those in the Palestinian Authority that you met with were named in your department’s press release, those in the Israeli government were not.
“While your own Twitter thread detailing your visit highlights various groups and individuals that you met, it omits any mention of any meetings with members of the Israeli government or the Knesset.”
Law then highlighted the International Court of Justice provisional ruling which found Palestinians’ right to be protected from genocide faced a plausible risk, and the finalised ruling that the occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory is unlawful, as well as the International Criminal Court issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes.
He went on: “The UK Government has faced accusations of complicity in this through its continuation of arms sales to Israel and its apparent reluctance to uphold its legal obligations under international humanitarian law.
“It is therefore of upmost importance that there is full transparency in any dealings between the UK and Israel, in order to prevent suggestions that the UK is aiding and abetting an ally while they are accused of contravening international humanitarian law.
“I therefore look forward to you providing the full details of your interactions with Israeli representatives during your visit to the Middle East, and ask that you provide an update to Parliament outlining what further steps the UK is taking to alleviate suffering in Gaza through unimpeded humanitarian assistance, an immediate cessation of hostilities, and a commitment to uphold international humanitarian law and bring those who have violated it to justice.”
Patrick Harvie, the Scottish Greens co-leader and his party’s external affairs spokesperson, also called for the UK Government to detail who from the Israeli administration Dodds had met.
“It’s a disgrace that Labour Government ministers have held unaccountable meetings with secret representatives of the Israeli regime; it’s time for them to come clean,” Harvie told The National.
“Keir Starmer used to be a human rights lawyer, of all the people to know that his Labour ministers should not be meeting with international war criminals, it should be him. Instead, Labour have continued to turn the other cheek and continue their complicity in the genocide against the people of Gaza.
“The International Criminal Court has found ‘reasonable grounds’ that members of the Israeli government hold ‘criminal responsibility’ for war crimes in Gaza; the only valid reason for UK ministers to meet with representatives of the Israeli state would be to demand an end to the genocide and the occupation, and to set out the terms of sanctions including a full arms embargo.
“Scottish Greens have continually called out Labour’s shameful collusion in Israel’s illegal genocide. It’s time for Starmer to end arms sales to Israel and stop holding secret meetings with war criminals.”
As detailed above, the Foreign Office has repeatedly declined to respond to The National’s requests for comment.
