“He has blood on his hands” – Rishi Sunak challenged on Israel by MPs in Parliament

24th January 2024

“Is it not time for the Prime Minister to admit that he has the blood of thousands of innocent people on his hands?”

Tahir Ali and several other British members of parliament challenged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over his continued support for Israel in its war on Gaza on Wednesday.

“The Israeli government has the power to end this starvation crisis… does it not, Prime Minister?” MP Anum Qaisar asked. Sunak responded by appearing to answer a different question instead.

MP Stephen Flynn asked Sunak if the shooting of an unarmed Palestinian man walking under a white flag, as seen on an ITV News report the night before, constituted a war crime. The Prime Minister responded by saying he had “made the point” to Israeli officials that international humanitarian law should be respected.

Flynn replied, commenting on Sunak’s failure to answer the question, “Mr Speaker, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect the Prime Minister of the UK to rise to that dispatch box and tell the people of these isles…that shooting an unarmed man under a white flag is a war crime.”