WESTMINSTER — Labour chair of the foreign affairs select committee Emily Thornberry criticized the UK government for failing to take concrete economic and diplomatic actions to support Palestinian statehood more than eight months after recognizing Palestine as a state. She accused the government of lacking ambition and “wringing its hands on the Palestinian crisis.”
Thornberry said the UK had let the Palestinian people down and failed to make it “economically impossible for Israel to continue to act with impunity in the West Bank and Gaza.” She argued that recognition of Palestine was merely a first step and questioned what further actions had followed. “We knew and we have to remember that recognition was only the first step. Where is the second step, where is the tenth step, what are we doing?” Thornberry said.
Speaking at an event in Westminster convened by Medical Aid for Palestinians and the Council on Arab-British Understanding, Thornberry emphasized the urgency of stronger measures. She called for banning imports from illegal settlements, imposing sanctions on individuals involved in settlement activity, ending British corporate involvement, and targeting insurance networks that support settlement expansion. “Let’s together act together so we make sure that it is so economically painful for Israel that settlement expansion becomes untenable, because what is happening in the West Bank is untenable – families driven from their homes, communities under constant threat, Palestinians being lynched in the streets,” she said.
Thornberry also pointed to the UK’s failure to publish a formal response to the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on the occupation of Palestinian territory, which was issued 682 days ago. She argued that accepting the ICJ’s finding that settlements are illegal logically requires action. “If you accept the ICJ advisory opinion that settlements are illegal and states should do everything they can not to facilitate them, then there are certain actions that should follow logically,” she said.
She urged the UK to revive the coalition of states that supported Palestinian recognition in 2025 and to lead international diplomatic efforts. Thornberry warned that inaction in Gaza provided a tragic example of delayed intervention and stressed that the current conditions there did not constitute a genuine ceasefire. “The tragedy of Gaza is a lesson of what happens when you do too little too late. We failed to intervene early enough. We failed to apply enough pressure when pressure might have made a difference and we cannot let the West Bank suffer the same fate,” she said. “As for Gaza, we just have to stop pretending what exists today is a ceasefire because it is not.”
Thornberry added: “Anyone who believes that what Gazans have right now is a genuine ceasefire has to look at what the truth is. They need to look at the pictures of the children who have been bitten by rats as they sleep in displacement camps in mountains of rubble.” She also said: “The sense of impunity is staggering.”
Referencing Britain’s historical role in international law, Thornberry said: “I have always been so proud that Britain has always realised the importance of international law. It is something we are strong on, probably for good reason since much of international law was written by British lawyers. But when it comes to our record on Palestine, I am afraid we have fallen well short and in doing so we have failed the Palestinian people.”
She concluded by calling for urgent international coordination: “Where are the international summits? Where is the urgency? Where is the sustained diplomatic effort? We need Palestine back in the headlines and we need to have Britain playing a leading role in making that happen.”
No independent assessment of Emily Thornberry’s claims was available.