On May 19, the British and Canadian prime ministers and French president issued a joint statement against Israel’s actions in Gaza. Beyond the grand gestures, the statement was weakly worded and will have no impact.
It is consistent with the British government’s policy of going soft on Israel since 2023 and shows the weakness of parliamentary accountability in Britain.
The statement opposed the “expansion” of Israeli military operations but supported Israel’s right to so-called self-defense. It claimed that the denial of essential humanitarian assistance “risks breaching international humanitarian law,” when the deliberate starvation of civilians as a tactic of war is a prosecutable war crime.
Indeed, Israel’s starvation policy forms the basis of the ICC arrest warrant issued against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on November 21, 2024. The joint statement threatened further concrete actions. In terms of specific action, the best the current UK government has done is to reverse the previous Conservative government’s mooted objection to the ICC’s jurisdiction over Israeli nationals. Britain has not so far sanctioned a single member of the Israeli government over its actions in Gaza.
Britain has also imposed miniscule restrictions on arms sales to Israel. The UK government is now facing a High Court challenge over its continued sale of F-35 spare parts to Israel. Following a written Parliamentary question in December on the issue of F-35 part sales, the UK government replied that “it is not currently possible for the UK to suspend licensing of F-35 components for use by Israel without prejudicing the entire global F-35 programme, including its broader strategic role in NATO and Western support to Ukraine.”
In other words, if we stop selling parts to Israel, then America’s 19 allies who are buying F-35s might not want to buy them anymore.
From the UK side, the statement reinforced the minimalist position both the previous Conservative and current Labour governments have taken on alleged Israeli atrocities in Gaza. And, unfortunately, the UK Parliament has a poor record in holding the government to account. If you search through the UK Parliament website, you’d find that since October 2023, parliamentarians have tabled 2,243 written questions for the UK foreign secretary to answer about all aspects of Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Without exception, the answers have been vague and evasive.
The first serious questions were raised just 10 days after the October 7 attack, when Marsha de Cordova MP and Richard Burgon MP both asked whether the government had received legal advice on the Israeli government’s military actions in Gaza. The government sent them each the same standard reply which was glib and meaningless. “The Foreign Secretary and his ministerial team receive legal advice on all matters related to foreign policy, including the unfolding situation in Israel and Gaza.”
This kind of reply is typical. During my diplomatic career, I drafted countless written and oral responses from government ministers to parliamentary questions and the aim was at all times to provide as little useful information as humanly possible. Every government response to a parliamentary question on the Gaza war since that time has stayed true to that approach.
Underlying the British government’s stance has been a consistent foundation of belief that Israel has a right to defend itself in this way. On November 7, Stephen Morgan MP asked what recent steps the government had taken to help protect medical infrastructure in Gaza. The government reply confirmed that “all states, including Israel, must exercise their legitimate right to self-defence.”
On November 8, Crispin Blunt MP, former chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, asked whether the government planned “to make an assessment of the adequacy of Israel's compliance with the Geneva convention during its operations in Gaza.” The government replied that “Israel has the right to defend itself proportionately, and its military operations must be conducted in accordance with International Humanitarian Law.”
On November 9, 2023 Andrew Western MP asked whether the government had held discussions with Israeli counterparts on the military detention of Palestinian children. The government replied that “our focus right now is getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
Debbie Abrahams MP asked on November 14 what estimate the government had made of the number of deaths of Palestinian civilians. The government replied, “we have no means of independently verifying exact casualty numbers, and it is difficult for organisations like the UN to accurately verify estimates in Gaza.”
And yet when the table is turned and questions are asked about Hamas, the government’s response is more vociferous and indignant. Take this very recent question from May 1 when Neil Coyle MP asked what steps he has taken to verify the number of UNRWA operatives involved in the October 7 2023 attacks in Israel. The British government responded, “we condemn in the strongest possible terms the brutal terror attacks by Hamas and were appalled by the Government of Israel's allegations that United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) staff members were involved.”
Since the October 7 attack, the UK government has committed a paltry £364 million in aid to Gaza, made up of £111.5 million in 2023/4, £123 million 2024/5, £129 million in this financial year. In April of this year alone, the government dished out another £450 million in military aid to Ukraine, which included “radar systems, anti-tank mines and hundreds of thousands of drones.” By the end of this financial year, Britain will have pumped £17.3 billion in aid to Ukraine since the war started in February 2022.
Compare that to the government’s response to a parliamentary question in December 2024 about the provision of aid to evacuated children from Gaza. The government confirmed its allocation of “£1m for the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population, to support medically evacuated Palestinians from Gaza.”
Or, the response to the April 23, 2025 question from Lord Roberts which asked about steps taken to aid children in Gaza in 2025, and especially those in need of medical assistance. The government replied, “In the last financial year, we announced £6 million for United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to support vulnerable families in Gaza.”
The truth is that the British government has been ambivalent at best and indifferent at worst, to the plight of Palestinian civilians suffering under the onslaught of Israel’s defense force. Nothing encapsulates the “let them starve” mentality of the British Parliament better than the question of November 7, 2023 from Lord Blencathra. He asked His Majesty's Government “whether they intend to put an immediate stop to all further overseas aid to Gaza until it is certain that none of it is being taken or used by Hamas.”
The only use the UK, Canada, France joint statement this week will have is to serve as a reference for future low energy government responses to Parliament. A “look, we did something” nod to the growing number of Britons enraged that the government has sat by and done nothing as children and civilians have been murdered and starved to death.
It was, I fear, a shameful and cynical exercise in praising Israel through faint damnation. Appearing to criticize while in fact condoning the basis for Israel’s actions and refusing to take action to end the wholly reprehensible slaughter of the innocent.
