UK minister grilled over RAF flights supporting Israel in Gaza in rare debate
Shockat Adam MP speaks in Westminster Hall on 18 March 2025
Imran Mulla reports in Middle East Eye on 19 March 2025:
Tuesday [18 March] was a challenging day for the British government after Israel’s morning assault on Gaza killed more than 400 Palestinians without warning, ending its ceasefire with Hamas.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer made headlines by publicly overruling his foreign secretary after David Lammy accused Israel of violating international law.
On Monday, Lammy had said that Israel had breached international law through the imposition of a full blockade, which has cut water and electricity to 2.3 million people in Gaza. The UK’s top diplomat then rowed back on his own comments, saying he “could have been clearer” and that it was a “matter for the court” to determine whether Israel had broken international law.
What didn’t make headlines was the rare debate that evening on military cooperation with Israel in parliament’s Westminster Hall. The event, in which detailed questions about military support for Israel and the Royal Air Force’s surveillance flights over Gaza were put to the armed forces minister, forced the government in to another tough corner.
The debate was secured by the independent MP for Leicester South, Shockat Adam, who was elected last July on a pro-Palestine platform.
Forensic questions
Corbyn and Blackburn MP Adnan Hussain sat beside Adam as he directed a series of forensic questions to the minister. Significantly, Adam asked whether the UK had in fact violated the “spirit of the ceasefire”.
“If hundreds of UK flights have taken place over Gaza, what have we witnessed?” he asked. “What crimes, if any, have we seen?