Bradford MP Naz Shah accuses Government of not using Queen’s Speech to address violence in Middle East

Naz Shah made an impassioned plea for an inquiry into alleged Israeli war crimes during a debate on housing, stating that Palestinians have been “abandoned” as hostilities with Israel continue.

The Bradford West MP told the Commons that the Queen’s Speech does not offer “a foreign policy that rises to the challenge we are seeing played out on our screens today”.

“We sit here in the mother of Parliaments, the House of Commons, living under the rule of law, upholding fundamental freedoms for all who live in our green and pleasant land without any fear and without having our rightful connection to it denied,” she said.

“Palestinians do not live in the same security; rather, they live in constant fear of being forcibly dispossessed from their ancestral homes by the Israeli army. They have been abandoned by the international community, and they have been abandoned by us.”

Ms Shah added: “If we claim that there are two equal sides, why is it that we recognise only one while we have yet to recognise Palestine?

“The just and peaceful solution we all seek will not be possible until the UK and its allies recognise this imbalance and take effective action to address it. The violence will not end until impunity does.

“The Government’s support for a ceasefire in Gaza is welcome and vital to preventing further needless loss of life, but there will be no sustainable and just peace in Palestine and Israel until all are equal and accountable before the law.”

Ms Shah called for “an independent investigation by the International Criminal Court”; ;a special session of the Human Rights Council looking into potential war crimes and accountability based on human rights” and “a review, in line with our own laws, of all licences issued for arms and equipment used by the Israeli security forces”.