Note to reader: We wanted to give you a trigger warning on what you may read below. We have chosen, as with every one of these briefings, to not share horrific images, however we want to alert you as sensitively as we can to the reports coming out of Israel and Gaza.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: “Calling for immediate ceasefire now which collapses…within days or weeks not in anyone’s interest”
“Never again” must Hamas be allowed to carry out the “appalling terrorist attacks that Israel was subject to”, said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during PMQs this week.
“Just calling for an immediate full ceasefire now, which collapses back into fighting within days or weeks, is not in anyone’s interest. We must work towards a permanent ceasefire, and that is why the right approach is the approach that we have set out and the United States has set out in its [UN] resolution, which is for an immediate humanitarian pause to get hostages out and aid in, so that we then can create the conditions for a sustainable ceasefire”, Sunak added.
During the debate about the SNP-proposed ceasefire motion on Wednesday, CFI Parliamentary Chair (Commons), Rt. Hon. Stephen Crabb MP condemned “the appalling outpouring of antisemitism in this country” and “a concerted campaign to pressure and even bully MPs to fall into line behind a very specific wording about a ceasefire, which implies an unconditional ceasefire and has the objective of keeping Hamas in place in Gaza”.
The debate ended in acrimony as Conservative and SNP MPs walked out of the Commons chamber amidst controversy over the Speaker’s departure from convention in adopting a Labour Party motion which reportedly followed pressure from the Leader of the Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer.
“Every right-thinking person in this Chamber this afternoon wants to see an end to the fighting and bloodshed”, he added, but there were “several issues” with the SNP’s motion, including “no mention of Hamas’s guilt or the fact that they started this round of conflict”, the omission of Hamas’ use of “sexual violence and rape as a weapon of war”, and that “at the heart” of the motion, “it lets Hamas off the hook for what happened on 7 October”.
CFI Parliamentary Vice Chair Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers MP said that “demanding an immediate ceasefire amounts to asking Israel to lay down its arms unilaterally while its hostages remain in peril and while Hamas retains power in Gaza”. She reasoned that “no pause or ceasefire can be workable, sustainable or permanent unless it comes after the release of all hostages, the defeat and removal of Hamas from power, and an end to the terror group’s capacity to repeat their 7th October atrocity”.
CFI Vice Chair Andrew Percy MP said that “nobody in this House has any business or agency at all in telling the state of Israel where it is able to operate to seek to rescue hostages who are being raped by the Islamic terrorists who hold them”.
“I am sorry to say that the SNP is not interested in a solution that would both safeguard the civilians of Gaza and enable an Israeli victory over Hamas”, said Former Attorney General Rt. Hon. Sir Michael Ellis KC MP. “Israel has been through multiple rounds of conflict initiated by the genocidal Hamas terror group in Gaza. The SNP motion, should it achieve its objectives, would cement the prospects of many more such incursions” which is “exactly what Hamas want: to secure endless opportunities to destroy Israel, granted by the confused logic of that motion”, he stated.
Ellis called out the SNP Westminster Leader’s accusations of war crimes committed by Israel as an “incendiary charge not borne out by the legality of the situation, and it is not in accordance with the facts”, after reminding the House not to “forget that all Hamas need to do is to release the hostages, including very small children, and hostilities would cease immediately”.
Former Cabinet Minister Rt. Hon. Robert Jenrick MP said that to “leave Hamas’s terrorist organisation partially intact” would be an “intolerable situation for Israel: it would send a clear message that using human shields works and that we will not allow Israel to fully defend itself”.
Miriam Kates MP said that “any Government who did not then act to prevent [7th October] from happening again would be failing in their duty to protect their citizens. There simply is no other way to keep Israelis safe than to destroy Hamas”.
Rt. Hon. Sir Julian Lewis MP, Rt. Hon. Sir Liam Fox MP, Sir Charles Walker MP, Sir Edward Leigh MP, Alexander Stafford MP, Steve Double MP, Rt, Hon. Tobias Ellwood MP, Jerome Mayhew MP, and others raised concerns with the SNP and Labour motions – reiterating Hamas’ abhorrent use of human shields, emphasising the terror group’s intention to destroy the progress made by the 2020 Abraham Accords, and the intimidatory and violent tactics used by anti-Israel protestors.
Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt: “British Jews are suffering a grotesque level of hatred and abuse, which quite frankly shames our country”
Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt has said that “there cannot be any tolerance or quarter given to individuals who threaten and try to prevent Members of Parliament conducting their business”, following reports of MPs being intimidated and receiving threats from hardline pro-Palestinian activists ahead of this week’s controversial ceasefire debate. She added: “British Jews are suffering a grotesque level of hatred and abuse, which quite frankly shames our country”.
CFI Parliamentary Vice Chair Andrew Percy MP warned that Members will not “vote with their hearts because they are frightened and scared” of the intimidation techniques used by campaigners.
“The most worrying thing about yesterday is that Members were being intimidated for what they say and how they vote, because of fears about their physical safety and that of their staff and family”, agreed CFI Parliamentary Vice Chair Rt. Hon. Theresa Villiers MP.
“We have a climate of hard-line support that has seen antisemitism on the streets of our capital city. My constituents from the Jewish community feel intimidated about coming into the centre of London”, she added.
Rt. Hon. Robert Jenrick MP added that “this House appears cowed by threats of violence and intimidation”, and that “our streets…[are] dominated by Islamist extremists, and British Jews and others to be too intimidated to walk through central London week after week. Now we are allowing Islamist extremists to intimidate British Members of Parliament”.
Dr. Matthew Offord MP added that his “constituents have also faced a level of antisemitism never seen before”, citing “calls for jihad on the streets of London, but the Metropolitan Police refusing to do anything about it, and about men driving through north London threatening to rape Jewish women, but the Crown Prosecution Service declining to prosecute them”.
“Islamic extremism, that is a very serious situation, and we must, as a House, look into it”, said Anna Firth MP.
Home Secretary James Cleverly: ‘From the river to the sea’ Big Ben projections are “deeply, deeply offensive”
Home Secretary James Cleverly said that the projection of ‘From the river to the sea’ onto Big Ben amidst protests outside Parliament this week was “deeply, deeply offensive… The implication is the eradication of the State of Israel”. “Both personally and as a Government, we completely reject that”, he added.
London Metropolitan Police have come under pressure following their claim that the slogan, in the context of a public protest, does not constitute a criminal offence. “This is a chant that has been frequently heard at pro-Palestinian demonstrations for many years, and we are very aware of the strength of feeling in relation to it”, commented the police force on social media.
CFI Parliamentary Vice Chair Andrew Percy MP called the slogan a “genocidal call”.
The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC), which organised the protest, told Sky News they were not responsible for the projections. The head of the PSC, Ben Jamal, reportedly said the group were “pleased to see” the projections.
‘BDS Bill’ advances through Second Reading in House of Lords
The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill – also known as the BDS Bill – passed through its Second Reading in the House of Lords this week. Cabinet Minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe said that “the campaign that has placed the most pressure on our public bodies is the BDS movement. It deliberately asks public bodies to treat Israel differently from any other country, and its founders have been clear in their opposition to the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. Not only is that at odds with the policy of this Government, which is to promote a two-state solution, but we have seen an increase in antisemitic events following on from the activities of the BDS movement”.
Baroness Noakes welcomed the Bill, affirming that “the Government are right to legislate to stop public bodies engaging in boycotts of foreign countries or making equivalent investment decisions”. She said that BDS “is part of a wider movement that denies Israel’s right to exist. The Palestinian BDS National Committee is interlinked with proscribed terrorist organisations, including Hamas”. She added that “we should be in no doubt that BDS and Hamas draw from the same well. The BDS movement at its core is antisemitic. Antisemitism nowadays wears the clothes of being anti-Israel, but it is little different from the antisemitism that Jews have suffered down the ages”, and that the Bill is a “modest but important contribution to reducing the impact that the BDS movement”.
Lord Wolfson of Tredegar said that “the question has been asked: why is Israel treated differently by being singled out in the Bill? The short answer is that Israel is already treated differently and singled out – by international institutions and by too many public bodies here in the UK. That differential treatment and singling out has real effects, not only on the State of Israel but – and this is my focus -on civil society in the UK”.
“Last year, the United Nations General Assembly condemned Israel 14 times. The rest of the world put together: seven. Since 2015, the score stands at Israel 140, the whole of the rest of the world put together, 68. The UN Human Rights Council has a standing agenda item, Item 7, which is focused on Israel – and only on Israel. This is the same UN Human Rights Council that, just two days after the 7th October massacre, held a minute’s silence to mourn, to quote from its own website, ‘the loss of innocent lives in the occupied Palestinian territory and elsewhere’”, Lord Wolfson added. He also called out exponentially rising antisemitism across the country.
CFI Parliamentary Chair (Lords) dismisses Green Party’s “perverse” call for Israel boycott
The Green Party’s calls to bar Israel from international events, end arms exports, sanction political leaders and prosecute them as ‘war criminals’ have been condemned by Conservative parliamentarians.
CFI Parliamentary Chair (Lords) Rt. Hon. The Lord Pickles told The Telegraph that “the 7th October genocidal attack by Hamas began at a peaceful music festival, where Jews were murdered, raped and mutilated. The Green Party’s policy to boycott Israel, the only functioning democracy in the region and the victim of a vicious pogrom, is perverse and wrong-headed”.
CFI Parliamentary Officer Bob Blackman CBE MP said the Green Party policy is “absolute nonsense”, and said that Israel “has every right to compete in sporting events [and] provide musical events”.
“It just panders to the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions [BDS] regime, which presumably the Green Party support, which is one of the reasons we’re making it illegal for public bodies to do exactly that, to prevent Israel from [taking] its proper place in the world”, he added.
Israel’s “singl[ing] out is “driven by Israel seeking to eliminate Hamas from ever being able to attack Israel again”, and condemned Hamas’ use of “human shields”. Hamas have “got no interest in a ceasefire, far from it”, he added.
Conservative Lords condemn rise in antisemitism
In a hate crime debate in the Lords on Wednesday, Lord Leigh of Hurley said that “demonstrations, with antisemitic slogans and rhetoric calling for genocide against the State of Israel, need to be controlled and curtailed so that British Jews can once again feel safe and secure in the streets of London”.
“There is no place on British streets for demonstrations, convoys or flag-waving that glorify terrorism or harass the Jewish community”, agreed Baroness Penn.
In a separate Lords debate on antisemitism, Home Office Minister Lord Epsom quoted the “powerful” statement of the late Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, “Jews cannot fight antisemitism alone. The victim cannot cure the crime. The hated cannot cure the hate. It would be the greatest mistake for Jews to believe that they can fight it alone”.
He noted the important work of the Community Security Trust, and outlined in a number of recent antisemitic incidents, and said that “we expect the police to fully investigate these sorts of offences and make sure that those who commit them feel the full force of the law. Antisemitism, or indeed any other form of intolerance of that type, is completely unacceptable in this country, and we have to be vigilant in our efforts to combat it”.
Hamas welcomes “heroic” terror attack that kills one and injures 11 near Jerusalem
An Israeli man was killed and 11 others were wounded in a terror shooting attack carried out by three Palestinian gunmen armed with assault rifles and a grenade near a checkpoint between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim on Thursday morning.
According to police, the three men opened fire with automatic weapons at Israelis waiting in traffic while heading toward Jerusalem on the Route 1 highway, a few hundred meters before the az-Za’ayyem checkpoint, close to the West Bank town of the same name. The men ran along the lines of cars waiting in the traffic jam, firing into the vehicles over a distance of 1.5 km.
A man in his 20s – Matan Elmaliah – was killed in the shooting, medical officials said. A pregnant woman aged 23 was listed in serious condition.
Two of the gunmen were shot dead by security forces and armed civilians at the scene.
The Shin Bet security agency identified the terrorists as Muhammad Zawahra, 26, and his brother Kathem Zawahra, 31, both residents of the village of Ta’amra, and Ahmed Al-Wahsh, 31, a resident of Za’atara.
Hamas issued a statement praising the “heroic operation” and called the deadly shooting “a natural response” to the war in Gaza.
Anti-Hamas protests reportedly attacked by Hamas in Gaza
An anti-Hamas Telegram channel shared a series of videos this week purportedly documenting protests against the terror group in Gaza – which were reportedly attacked by Hamas security forces.
In the short clips published on the “Gaza’s Liberators” channel, people are seen chanting slogans against Hamas leaders: “Bring down Hamas,” “The people want a bag of flour, and “Sinwar, Haniyeh, the people are the victims”, referencing Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar and politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh.
They were reportedly filmed in Rafah, the southern town where over a million displaced Gazans are sheltering, and Jabaliya, in the north of the Strip.
In both locations where the footage was apparently filmed, the channel reported that Hamas security forces opened fire on the crowds. In Jabaliya, one person was reportedly killed and three were seriously wounded. The information could not be independently verified, and it is unclear how many people participated in the protests.
Three of the clips were shared by the IDF’s Arabic language spokesperson Avichay Adraee on X on Wednesday, who commented: “The people of Gaza know the cause of the tragedy in the Strip and the consequences of [7th October] devastation and terror generated by Sinwar and his clique”.
Videos have emerged intermittently documenting other apparent anti-Hamas rallies in the Strip, including one last Friday, when riots broke out at the Rafah Crossing to Egypt, after a Palestinian teen was shot dead by Hamas police as he tried to grab items from a humanitarian aid truck.
Last week, Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians COGAT posted photos on X of what it said was “the content of 500 trucks of humanitarian aid on the Gazan side of Kerem Shalom, AFTER Israeli inspection, waiting to be picked up and distributed by UN organizations.”
Various video clips circulated after Israel launched the war against Hamas in October have shown gunmen from the terror group confiscating trucks carrying aid for civilians. Reports indicate that some of the aid is sold by Hamas members on the black market at highly inflated prices.
Meanwhile, in northern Gaza, the UN’s food agency said on Tuesday that it had paused aid deliveries to the area after convoys of trucks faced gunfire and looting.
Gaza has received 13,834 trucks of humanitarian aid since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, according to a Friday update by Israel’s military liaison to the Palestinians, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.
According to COGAT, 254,210 tonnes of supplies have been transferred to the Gaza Strip, including 167,080 tonnes of food.
Israeli communities ravaged on 7th October to return to Gaza border
The IDF Home Front Command has reportedly declared it safe to return to communities within 2.5 – 4.3 miles of the Israeli border with Gaza, together with 18 communities closer to the Strip, including those that were the hardest hit by Hamas’ 7th October massacre.
Israel’s Finance Ministry and the mayors of evacuated communities agreed on the advice while continuing to fund accommodations for those displaced until July.
Although rocket fire has significantly reduced as a result of Israel’s war on Hamas, there is “no complete absence of risks”, according to the IDF. Hamas continues to intermittently launch rockets into Israel.
Eight UNWRA employees arrested by Israel for ties to Hamas
Eight employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) have been arrested by Israel over their suspected ties to Hamas, according to Israeli media reports citing Israeli intelligence.
“30 UNRWA employees participated in the October 7 massacre, facilitated the taking of hostages, looted and stole from Israeli communities, and more”, according to Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on 16th February.
One of the detainees reportedly arrested by Israel is alleged to have participated in the massacre on 7th October.
