Lord Cameron ‘losing focus’ on Hamas threat to Israel, Lord Pannick says

Lord Cameron is “losing focus” on the threat posed to Israel by Hamas, a leading KC in the House of Lords has suggested, as he urged the Government to face up to the “political and military reality” in the region.

Lord Pannick, who was part of a parliamentary delegation visiting Israel last week, said he was concerned that recent decisions and statements by the Foreign Office demonstrated a “failure to recognise that Israel really has no other option other than to continue the war against Hamas”.

The peer said of Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary: “I hope that he will reconsider a return to an approach that understands the problems that Israel faces and its vital need to do all it can to reduce the military capabilities of Hamas.”

His intervention comes amid growing concern among some peers and Conservative MPs that the Government’s support for Israel is diminishing after Britain helped pass the first UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Following previous criticisms of the Foreign Secretary’s public criticisms of Israel, Foreign Office sources insisted that “being a friend means having to deliver a tough message”, including by putting pressure on the Israeli government to facilitate the passage of more humanitarian aid into Gaza.

On March 20, Lord Cameron said that “we’ve got to get Hamas leaders out of Gaza” in order to achieve a permanent ceasefire. He has said that he favours a “pause” in which Israeli hostages would be released and more aid brought into Gaza, before moving to a longer-term ceasefire using the “unstoppable momentum” generated in such a scenario.

But Lord Wolfson of Tredegar, a former Conservative minister and another senior KC in the Lords, said that, while Rishi Sunak had provided “a voice of personal moral clarity” on Israel, “I would like to see that echoed among all officials in King Charles Street [the Westminster address of the Foreign Office] also”.

He questioned why the UK had opened up a division with the US, which abstained on the UN vote, and it was “surprising” that the Foreign Office was threatening a ban on arms sales to Israel given that Britain sells weapons to countries such as Qatar “which are neither democracies nor facing threats of annihilation”.

Earlier, Lord Cameron faced a backlash from Tory MPs over Britain’s support for the UN resolution. Theresa Villiers, the former Northern Ireland secretary, said she was “alarmed” at Britain’s new position and asked if ceasefire calls were still conditional on the release of hostages.

Before last week’s UN vote, Lord Polak, another Conservative peer, who is honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel, appeared to warn that parts of the Government were among organisations involved in “the spread of lies about what is happening in Gaza”.

Taking part in a Lords debate on genocide on March 22, Lord Polak said: “Let us look at the harm that misinformation can bring about. Sadly, social media and mainstream news outlets, including elements of the UK Government, could be complicit because of the spread of lies about what is happening in Gaza. I shudder to think what Joseph Goebbels would have done with social media.”

Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph following his return from Israel last week, Lord Pannick said: “There is concern that the Foreign Office, having shown, correctly, great sympathy for Israel after Oct 7 is beginning to lose a proper focus. The main evidence of that is a failure to recognise that Israel really has no other option other than to continue the war against Hamas – emphasising, not a war against the Palestinian people.

“It is pretty clear from Oct 7 and from what Hamas has said since then that if their capability to strike Israel is not removed there will be another Oct 7 ... Israel has to stop that and another country in its position would do the same ... I and others are very concerned that the Government is losing focus on these central points.”

Lord Pannick told the Lords in October of how the conflict was “personal for me”, given that his wife was Israeli and the couple have friends whose family members were murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct 7.

He told this newspaper that the “tragic” images of suffering in Gaza hid “a more complicated reality”, adding: “I am concerned that the Government is not focusing on the political and military reality and is looking only at one aspect, tragic though it is.” He continued: “I am absolutely convinced that Israel’s approach to this conflict is in line with international law.”

Lord Wolfson said: “The idea that you have a ceasefire with Hamas and then move to talks which lead to a two-state solution is utter fantasy. Hamas want a one state, theocratic and Jew-free solution. I’ve always been a believer in the two-state solution, which has been UK foreign policy for as long as I can remember.

“What I would hope is that the Foreign Office appreciates that it’s not a case of, either you have the war against Hamas fought until Hamas is defeated, or you have a peace process leading to a two-state solution. A necessary precursor for a two-state solution is for Hamas to be utterly defeated.”

The Telegraph has previously reported that Lord Cameron is ready to suspend the UK’s export licence to Israel if there is a change in his department’s legal advice on whether Israel is complying with international humanitarian law.

On Saturday night the Observer reported claims by Alicia Kearns, the Commons foreign affairs committee chairman, that government lawyers had provided advice that Israel has breached international humanitarian law in Gaza.