Note to reader: We wanted to give you a trigger warning on what you may read below. We have chosen, as with every night 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.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: “There is no scenario where Hamas can be allowed to control Gaza”
Prime Minister’s Statement
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gave a Statement on Israel-Gaza Update in the House of Commons. 20 Conservative MPs spoke afterwards in support of Israel and the Jewish community.
Prime Minister Sunak underscored that “Hamas care more about their paymasters in Iran than the children they hide behind”, and vowed that “there is no scenario where Hamas can be allowed to control Gaza or any part of the Palestinian Territories”. “Hamas is not only a threat to Israel but to many others in the region”, the Prime Minister declared.
The Prime Minister noted that that “over 4,000 Palestinians have been killed in this conflict. They are also the victims of Hamas, who embed themselves in the civilian population”.
Describing his visit to the Middle East last week, “he travelled first to Israel. It is a nation in mourning. But, Mr Speaker, it is also a nation under attack”. “The violence against Israel did not end on the 7th of October. Hundreds of rockets are launched at their towns and cities every day. And Hamas still holds around 200 hostages. Including British citizens”, he added.
The Prime Minister also shared the findings of the UK investigation into the explosion at Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza: “The British government judges that the explosion was likely caused by a missile – or part of one – that was launched from within Gaza towards Israel”. He stressed that “the misreporting of this incident had a negative effect in the region – including on a vital US diplomatic effort – and on tensions here at home”. “We need to learn the lessons and ensure that in future there is no rush to judgment”, he added.
Speaking of the protests that took place over the weekend, Prime Minister Sunak declared that “we will never tolerate antisemitism in our country”. “Calls for Jihad on our streets are not only a threat to the Jewish community, but to our democratic values”, he added. “We expect the police to take all necessary action to tackle extremism head on”.
He reaffirmed this in response to Nickie Aiken MP’s intervention where he stated that “there is no place on British streets for demonstrations, convoys or flag-waving that not only glorify terrorism but harass the Jewish community. There is no place for antisemitism on our streets, which is why we have also increased funding for the Community Security Trust to protect British Jews from these types of incidents”.
Gareth Bacon MP noted that “at the weekend, shocking footage travelled the world showing flags of proscribed organisations on the streets of London, with extremists proclaiming Allah’s curse on the Jews and others calling for jihad. British Jews are increasingly feeling unsafe in their own country. But what has made that worse is the apparent refusal of the Metropolitan police to do anything about it, other than stand to one side and then issue a self-justificatory tweet that, frankly, was an insult to the intelligence of anybody who read it”.
In response to Sir Julian Lewis MP’s intervention on Iran, the Prime Minister stated that “all leaders see Hamas as a destabilising influence in the region and want to work with us and others to prevent the situation from escalating and to limit Hamas’s ability to carry out attacks like this in the future”.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP also asked about Iran arguing that “is it not time that we reviewed again the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with a view to banning its activities, and the role of Iranian banks here in the UK, in the City of London? Why are they still here getting money and putting it towards terrorist activities?”
CFI’s Parliamentary Chair, Stephen Crabb MP focused on the hostages taken to Gaza. He asked the Prime Minister if “he able to obtain any new information about the welfare of hostages who have been taken by Hamas into Gaza? They include many elderly people, toddlers with medical needs and disabled people. Is it not important for us to make sure that they are not forgotten, and that the supplies going into Gaza reach the hostages as well?” In response the Prime Minister shared that he “had a very constructive conversation with the Emir of Qatar about this issue to put pressure on those holding the hostages to release them unconditionally and to ensure their wellbeing in the meantime”.
Robert Courts MP also shared his concern about “abducted civilians” and that Hamas has “refused to release proof of life or lists, which is clearly adding even more to the distress”. He called for the Red Cross to do “everything possible to extract that information from this terror group”.
CFI Officer Bob Blackman CBE MP also called for “the International Red Cross to gain access to the hostages and to supply them with the medicines they need to keep them alive”. He declared that “earlier this afternoon, the all-party parliamentary group for Israel, which I co-chair, heard from victims, the families of victims and the families of hostages held in Gaza. Their one ask, above all else, is of course for hostages to be returned home, safe and sound, but there are babies aged nine months and many elderly people who are totally dependent on medicines that they were not carrying when they were taken hostage”.
Members of the House shared their concern about the Jewish community’s welfare including CFI Parliamentary Vice-Chair Andrew Percy MP who asked” how can members of the British Jewish community feel safe when people are allowed to chant on the streets of Britain in favour of jihad, call for the raising of religious armies to go and fight Israel, call for the mobilisation of the intifada, and walk down our street holding signs that display despicable ancient antisemitic tropes?” The MP noted that “those are marches not for peace but for hate. They glorify the worst murder of Jews since the Holocaust, and they have to stop”.
CFI Officer Nicola Richards MP voiced her concern about the Metropolitan Police who retweeted a tweet of well-known Israeli advocate Hen Mazig, and publicly disagreed with it “caus[ing] a barrage of antisemitic and homophobic abuse”. She noted that “the Met has a responsibility to protect Jewish communities at this most difficult time, and should be held to account for allowing that barrage of antisemitic abuse towards a member of the Jewish community”.
Alexander Stafford MP noted that “two weeks ago, Hamas committed an unprecedented and heinous pogrom against Jewish people—men, women, babies and children. We all stand with our British Jewish community, so Rotherham Council town hall flew the Israeli flag in solidarity. However, within hours it was attacked, the flag torn down and the flagpole broken. Rotherham Council is refusing to re-fly the Israeli flag”. He argued that “we must stand up against those who wish to intimidate our Jewish community, and re-fly the flag to show that we will always stand up against antisemitism and stand with our Jewish community”.
Sir Michael Ellis MP shed light on the suffering of the Israeli victims. He noted that “a group of 100 journalists from around the world have just been shown some indescribable raw footage of the Hamas attacks in a private screening. According to a BBC journalist, it features a father and two sons aged roughly seven and nine seen running into a shelter in their underwear. A terrorist throws a grenade into the shelter, killing the father and badly injuring the two boys, who run back into the house covered in blood. The two children are screaming for their father, and saying that they are going to die. The terrorist is seen calmly drinking water from the family’s fridge. That is just one of the videos that have been shown to 100 journalists from around the world in the last couple of hours”.
CFI Officer Dr Matthew Offord MP argued that “events in Israel and Gaza have a direct influence upon [his] constituents. In May 2021, a convoy for Palestine drove through north London with loudspeakers advocating that people raped Jewish girls and mothers. On Saturday, as the Prime Minister said, “jihad” was called for on the streets of London…. Only yesterday, a long-term resident of my constituency has been identified as a Hamas operative. Indeed, two further names have been drawn to my attention. The Prime Minister says that action will be taken, but it simply is not. My constituents do not expect the law to be enforced; they demand it”.
CFI Parliamentary Vice-Chair Theresa Villiers MP also referenced individuals with links to Hamas residing in the UK. She said that constituents “have been in touch to express how appalled they are at a report in The Times about how an individual with known links to Hamas was not only given UK citizenship, but given a council house and allowed to buy it at a discount”.
Anthony Mangnall MP asked for assurance that “that not a single penny of [aid] will fall into the hands of Hamas”. The Prime Minister stated in his response that “historically, the vast bulk of our aid has been both humanitarian and channelled through the UN, but we will of course make sure that it gets to the people who need it and is not syphoned off or hijacked by Hamas”.
Rehman Chisti MP noted that “this is not the first time that the terrorist organisation, Hamas, have carried out terrorist activity and killed innocent Jewish people to derail the peace process. They did that in 2002, when they killed innocent Jewish people on the night of Passover, just before the Arab peace initiative was about to be launched. That then derailed the peace initiative for the region”.
Education OPQs
In Education OPQs, CFI Officer Bob Blackman CBE MP noted that “in the wake of the massacre that occurred in Israel—the greatest loss of life since the Holocaust—cases of antisemitism in this country have risen by 582%, and Jewish students on our campuses feel very unsafe. Glorification of this massacre has been carried out at Warwick University, Bristol University, University College London and the School of Oriental and African Studies. It is unacceptable for universities to tolerate such activity”.
Education Minister Robert Halfon MP in response said that “sadly, there are a number of Hamas’s useful idiots—a fifth column—across some of our universities. The Secretary of State has said that she will not stand for it; the Home Secretary will not stand for it. We have written to universities. This is absolutely unacceptable; we expect our universities to be safe places for all Jewish students”.
Aaron Bell MP also shared his concern about the increase of antisemitism within education settings. He said that “since Hamas’s attack, Jewish students on campus report that they have had a year’s worth of antisemitic incidents in only two weeks. Some have been targeted, the attack itself was celebrated, and some have received death threats”.
Anthony Higginbotham MP shared an example that a “day after Hamas’s brutal massacre in Israel, a student at the University of Manchester spoke of being full of “pride and joy” at a once-in-a-lifetime experience—not only a disgusting comment but one that points to possible extremism in our university campuses”. “Far too many think that there are no consequences for spreading such hate in our educational settings”, he added.
Greg Smith MP on LBC News
This morning CFI member Greg Smith MP spoke to LBC News about the Hamas-Israel war and subsequent protests.
He noted that “all of us mourn the loss of any innocent life, but first and foremost, Israel were the victims of one of the worst terrorist attacks we’ve ever seen. It was the worst crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust. And Israel has an absolute and total right to defend themselves. And so long as the Hamas terrorist threat exists, Israel must take absolutely every step they need to take to defend Israel to defend their citizens”.
Of the pro-Palestinian protests, he said that he thinks “it is really important that we draw very distinct lines between people peacefully protesting… and those that go out to incite hatred and use terms such as “jihad” which let’s not forget what that word really means, it is a call to war, it is a call to violence”.
Communities Secretary Michael Gove speaks at solidarity rally yesterday
15,000 people attended a solidarity rally for the hostages, in Central London on Sunday. Communities Secretary Michael Gove addressed the crowd declaring that “no words can sum up the evil of those responsible for these acts”.
A fortnight ago saw “the biggest, most horrific slaughter of Jewish people since the Holocaust, carried out by terrorists, an act of evil, unparalleled evil and barbarism. We must stand together against it. We must stand for life. We must bring the hostages home”.
“The difference between the IDF and Hamas”, he highlights is that “the IDF are there to protect civilians, Hamas exist to slaughter civilians. The IDF embody the Jewish spirit, Hamas wants to kill every Jewish citizen of Israel”. “They must not win. They will not win. We stand with Israel now and forever”, he added.
On antisemitism, Gove noted that “antisemitism practices something called the double standard; the Jewish people are different and held to a different standard from everyone else. And we’ve seen that in the last two weeks”. “There is sympathy, yes, for the Jewish people when they are victims, and they are suffering. But when the Jewish people say we need to be strong, we need to defend our values and our peoples, we need to stand up for humanity – then you hear the critics and the cynics attacking Israel”, he added. “I am here as a British Government Minister and I speak for friends across parties in the House of Commons; Israel must stand strong and Britain stands with Israel”.
“It breaks my heart to know that there are Jewish children who must disguise their school uniform to hide the fact that they go to a Jewish school. It breaks my heart that there are students at our universities who must hide the Star of David around their neck or that there are Jewish individuals who dare not wear the kippah on our streets for fear of what might be done. We have a responsibility. Every Jewish life is sacred, the Jewish faith is precious, our Jewish community must be protected. And when we see people on our streets with posters celebrating paragliding killers, when we see terrorist flags waved, when we see chants which call for the elimination of the Jewish state, then we must be clear, never again shall we see these words, these symbols, this age”.
He concluded his remarks stating: “Let us all be clear in this vigil here. We want those families to come home. We want those families to be safe in their Jewish home. We want Israel to prosper and to be secure in the future. And we in Britain, stand with Israel. bring them home”.
At least 1,400 Israelis have been confirmed killed and 4,800 injured in an unprecedented terror attack by Iran-backed terror group, Hamas. Due to the scale of deaths and atrocity of the massacre, Zaka (Disaster Victim Identification) are still working to identify those killed.
222 hostages have currently been confirmed as abducted by Hamas. Two American hostages, mother and daughter, Judith and Natalie Raanan, were released by Hamas on Friday via the Red Cross into Israel.
Egypt has reported that this evening two Israeli hostage were released by Hamas via the Rafah crossing; 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz and 80-year-old Nurit Koper.
There are current reports that Hamas will release hostages of dual-nationalities, but not Israelis.
More information revealed about Hamas’ attack
Today, some 100 journalists were invited by Israel to see evidence of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel.
A joint announcement from the spokeswomen of the Shin Bet and the Israel Police unveiled that terrorists received explicit instructions to kill and kidnap civilians including the elderly, women and children. It was reported that a reward was offered to anyone who brought a hostage to Gaza, which included an apartment and funds of $10,000.
In an interview with Sky News yesterday, Israeli President Isaac Herzog revealed that Hamas terrorists were carrying instructions on how to make chemical weapons. The material on a USB stick found on one of the terrorists showed that Hamas planned to use cyanide against civilians. Herzog said, “It’s al-Qaida material. We’re dealing with ISIS, al-Qaida and Hamas.”
The IDF are still scanning the area next to the Israel-Gaza border for victims, terrorists, and weapons. Today they discovered a booby-trapped child’s school bag containing a remote-activated explosive device—weighing 7 kg.
Hezbollah
Hezbollah have so far fired over 200 rockets and mortars at Israel’s northern border. There have also been five attempted infiltrations, and over 50 instances of anti-tank missiles fired.
At least six Israelis have been killed including one civilian. Hezbollah has announced 27 Hezbollah terrorists have been killed.
Israel has claimed to have struck 20 Hezbollah cells along the border in response to Hezbollah’s increasing attacks.
Israel is continuing to evacuate communities close to its border with Lebanon. So far Israel has evacuated 28 communities and plans to evacuate another 14 communities.
Gaza
The Hamas-run health ministry have said that 4,380 Palestinians killed and 13,000 injured. It is unclear how many in this figure are terrorists and civilians.
20 aid trucks entered Gaza today via the Rafah crossing; the third aid convoy to do so.
During this difficult time please consider donating to Magen David Adom’s urgent appeal https://mdauk.org/
Please also email your MP to share your support with Israel. You can do this via We Believe in Israel: https://tinyurl.com/mr2rcbej
