Mark Malloch-Brown on Why Britain Must Not Compromise Its Values

The attacks of 7 October were the largest killing of Israelis since the establishment of the state of Israel. It was a horrific war crime, proportionally much worse even than 9/11. But as President Joe Biden himself warned, on 18 October during his visit to Israel, it would be an act of self-harm for the country to be ‘consumed’ by rage as America was in the aftermath of its worst modern terror attack.  

I sympathise as both Conservative and Labour front benches hide behind the semantics of a humanitarian ‘pause’ versus a ‘ceasefire’ even as the tragic toll of Palestinian deaths, many children, rises daily. But in the face of such suffering we cannot hide behind semantics. There must be a stop in the fighting—at least temporarily. Instead of solely focusing on Israel’s right of self-defence, Britain needs to unequivocally stand up for basic human rights.