Numerous Conservative MPs condemned the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) radicalisation of Palestinian youth to commit acts of violence, in a Westminster Hall debate on the detention of Palestinian minors.
Among Conservative MPs to attend the debate, were CFI Vice-Chairmen John Howell OBE MP and Andrew Percy MP, CFI Officer Matthew Offord MP, Ross Thomson MP.
CFI Vice-Chairman John Howell OBE MP, condemned the “singling out of Israel” in his speech, said that the British Embassy has welcomed “Israel’s focus on the particular needs of this more vulnerable category of detainees”.
Mr Howell expressed concern that 30% of attackers in recent violence against Israelis have been Palestinian minors “fuelled by intimidation” from the Palestinian Authority, that “denies Israel the right to exist and glorifies terrorists and Nazi sympathisers”.
Mr Howell said: “Just over 300 minors are in custody after 400 violent, ideological terror attacks. That is not to be deprecated. The effect on wider civil disorder can be seen from the attack in Jerusalem on a 70-year-old Palestinian man who was mistaken for an Israeli. The use of minors in this way, driven by hate and incitement, is nothing more than the abuse of children”.
CFI Vice-Chair Andrew Percy MP said that the “issue of Palestinian incitement” and lack of engagement from the PA for non-custodial sentences must be discussed. He called for the UK Government to use its aid budget to “bring people together” to “bring an end to the conflict”.
MP for Hendon, Dr Matthew Offord, referred to Ahed Tamimi’s “largely unreported” calls for “stabbings and martyrdom-seeking operations”. Says “such sentiments are a product of the hate-filled rhetoric of the Palestinian Authority, rather than those of a 16-year-old”.
Ross Thomson MP urged MPs to reject the “simplistic narrative of anti-Israel propagandists”, stating that “so-called moderates” in PA “name schools after terrorists, give them honours and pay them monthly salaries”.
He said: “The Palestinian Authority—not Hamas, but the so-called moderates in the Palestinian Authority—name schools after terrorists, give them honours and pay them monthly salaries. At the same time, they delegitimise the existence of the state of Israel and the Jewish presence in the region, and deny the Jewish connection to much of the region’s history”.
Minister for the Middle East, Rt. Hon. Alistair Burt MP, called for a negotiated two-state solution that “serves the interest of both sides”.
Click here to read the debate in full.
