Speeches by Falconer.

“My hon. Friend is an incredibly thoughtful, long-standing commentator on these issues. Both he and his family have made a great contribution to UK-Israeli relations. It was an act of great foolishness to prevent him from entering Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We called on the Israeli Government at th…”

“The hon. Gentleman does make me feel rather seasoned, as I was in Pakistan at that time. As I said earlier, the tests in international law are self-defence and imminence. Not every state agrees on the thresholds for those tests, but it is the expectation of the British Government with all our partners and allies—indeed…”

“The Prime Minister will make a determination on the question in advance of the high-level week of the General Assembly. That is not long now. The whole House can see the development of events in the region and, indeed, the language we set out in July. I do not wish to get ahead of the Prime Minister before he makes tha…”

“As we discussed last week, the circumstances of the famine in Gaza are horrifying and it is absolutely obvious that the restrictions on aid into Gaza, for which the Israeli Government are responsible, are contributing very significantly indeed to those circumstances. The Israeli Government have raised methodological co…”

“I set out in response to the hon. Member for Edinburgh West (Christine Jardine) the process by which we will make the determination on the recognition points that we set out in July. That point is very soon; the high-level week of the UN General Assembly is just weeks away. The hon. Gentleman will have an opportunity, …”

“I have set out the consultations with our partners that will be happening today and, I am sure, over coming days. The hon. Gentleman is right about the role of Qatar over the years, including in the Taliban talks that took place there for some time, and we have discussed already the questions under international law ab…”

“I have set out our position in relation to a whole range of Israeli Government actions with which we disagree, so I am not sure I would characterise our position in the way that the hon. Gentleman did. I have already set out our position on the relevant questions of international law as far as I am able.”

“That is more properly a question for the Attorney General. I think there has been some correspondence between him and his shadow, but I will revert to the Attorney General’s latest position on that question.”

“I think I have answered questions on arms and sanctions already in this session. I want to be clear: we have condemned these strikes, and we do not want to see them again. We are discussing these matters with our allies, including, we hope, at the UN Security Council this evening. We will no doubt keep the House update…”

“I thank the hon. Member for his kind words. I have set out clearly our absolute opposition to Hamas on a whole range of questions, but I have also set out our understanding of international law, why we condemn these strikes, and why we do not want to see them repeated.”

“President Herzog is in the UK on a private visit, so I would not characterise the visit as one for which the red carpet has been rolled out. I reiterate that so many colleagues on the Government Benches, and I am sure colleagues on the Opposition Benches as well, are rightly very conscious of the urgency of helping peo…”

“As I have said, the UK is supporting a motion for a session of the UN Security Council this afternoon. If that motion is granted, the session is expected to take place this evening—our time.”

“We utterly condemn the violation of Qatar’s sovereignty, as the House heard from the Prime Minister this morning. As my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (John Slinger) set out, the international legal tests are to do with imminence and self-defence. There will be a session of the UN Security Council, and it will be for…”

“I can confirm that the British Government’s position remains as set out by the then Foreign Secretary last week.”

“We expect Israel, alongside all of our allies, and indeed every state, to abide by international law. My hon. Friend sets out the relevant tests of self-defence and imminence. As I have said, the UK is supporting a motion for an urgent session of the Security Council this afternoon on this question.”

“The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary then and now have been clear that the Prime Minister will make a determination in advance of the UN General Assembly high-level week, in accordance with the language set out in the statement of July. The right hon. Member makes important points about what the previous Foreig…”

“On the right hon. Gentleman’s first point, we are committed to Qatar’s security and defence—we have a close relationship with the Qataris on both, and we are of course in constant discussions with them about the importance of that collaboration. On his second point about a protective force—and here I will take advantag…”

“I thank the right hon. Lady for those important questions. The British Government are fully committed, with our Gulf and G7 partners, to efforts to ensure that the current negotiations come to the conclusions that we wish to see. Those include conclusions in the short term—we have long repudiated Hamas’s hostage taking…”

“I set out the position in relation to President Herzog’s visit just a minute ago. I am not familiar with the Israeli politician in question, but I can say that the UK considers international law to be binding on all states.”

“The right hon. Gentleman is absolutely right about the risks in Gaza—we have seen that rubble grow. The British Government would support international forces going into Gaza with the agreement of the parties. In response to the right hon. Member for North West Hampshire (Kit Malthouse), I spoke about my own experience …”