Speeches by Falconer.

“Conscious of time, I will not relitigate the many points that the hon. Member has raised with me in the past. I will simply say that I stand by the remarks in the statement, and we have made our displeasure known.”

“I stick by the characterisation in my statement.”

“I do not think that anything I said indicated that I expected this House to be less critical in its position, so I am not sure that I accept the hon. Gentleman’s question.”

“My hon. Friend speaks with real force, and I agree with her condemnation of the Leader of the Opposition’s comments.”

“As I have said, one of the appealing elements of Israeli democracy is its free press and vibrant debate, and I know that many Members of this House have benefited from vibrant exchanges with their counterparts in Israel, as they have said already. I regret that that has not been the case this weekend.”

“My hon. Friend speaks about our colleagues with real warmth, which I know is felt right across the House. That has been referred to not just by those on the Government Benches, but by those on the Opposition Benches, and I am grateful. I can assure my hon. Friend that I will continue those discussions.”

“I can confirm that I would like to see unity across the House on such matters, and that any parliamentarian, of any political party, would enjoy the support of the Foreign Office under such circumstances.”

“I am conscious of the time. We have expressed our concerns about this incident in the way that I described, and I expect to have further discussions with members of the Israeli Government to that effect.”

“To be clear, they were granted entry clearance, rather than a visa. The distinction may seem academic to this House, given that both would have permitted my hon. Friends to travel to the airport. Clearly, it was not a surprise to the Israeli authorities that they arrived.”

“It is for Israel to decide whom it grants entry to, but any British national travelling overseas, regardless of their faith, can expect consular assistance from the Foreign Office.”

“As I have said, I think the decision was counterproductive.”

“My hon. Friend speaks forcefully about the importance of focusing on the hostages, the restrictions on aid and the death of innocent civilians on both sides of this conflict. As I have said a number of times this afternoon, I do want parliamentary delegations to continue to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territori…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and for his commitment to these issues even before he was a Member of this place. This incident over the weekend was novel. It is the first time we are aware of that MPs have been refused entry in this way. We are making clear our views about that to the Israeli Government in th…”

“We will continue to work with the Israeli Government and all relevant partners in the region to see the ceasefire restored, which is vital not simply to the Palestinians and the Israelis, but to all in the region.”

“The Foreign Secretary has clarified his comments on the occasion to which the hon. Gentleman refers, and he will know well from his own background that a long-standing policy of Governments of all kinds is that it is not for Ministers to act as courts. There are competent international courts that make such determinati…”

“My hon. Friend has done much work over the years on questions of peacebuilding. We, too, are committed to playing our part in trying to build up the connections between the two societies that could allow for the kind of moderate leadership at the most local level that is so necessary for making peace—we saw that in our…”

“The right hon. Gentleman is kind about my service. I know that he raised some of the issues with some force, as he says, during his time in this ministerial role. That underlines the hard truth here, which is that the Israelis must be persuaded to relent from a course of action that both the Conservative and Labour par…”

“Those are important questions. The UK considers settlements illegal under international law. We are clear that settlement goods must be properly labelled and they do not benefit from the trading regimes that would otherwise apply to both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. My hon. Friend’s question is the …”

“Those are important questions. Let me start with humanitarian aid workers. The whole House will have heard the Prime Minister respond to my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Jayne Kirkham). We of course want to see accountability when humanitarian workers are struck. We particularly expect accountability w…”

“My hon. Friend has been fearless and persistent on those questions. I do condemn the comments of Israeli Ministers which amount to forced displacement or the annexation of Palestinian territories. We recognise international humanitarian law and call on all our allies, including Israel, also to abide by it. The scenes i…”