Senior British MP rages at 'delusional' pro-Israel lawyer in parliament meeting
A British parliamentary hearing on Israel and Palestine on Tuesday afternoon became unusually heated when a pro-Israel lawyer clashed with the chair of the foreign affairs select committee over Gaza.
Natasha Hausdorff, director of the pro-Israel advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), was grilled by the committee of MPs, which scrutinises government policy.
The MPs heard evidence from Hausdorff as part of an ongoing inquiry into the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Hausdorff's organisation, UKLFI, recently threatened to mount a legal challenge against the British government over its partial suspension of arms sales to Israel.
Middle East Eye revealed last September that UKLFI asked the Israeli government for help to fight the threat of legal action by two NGOs working in the occupied Palestinian territories.
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The session got off to a rocky start when senior Labour MP Emily Thornberry, the chair, repeatedly asked Hausdorff what a positive future would look like for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Hausdorff responded by calling for the defeat of Hamas and an end to "indoctrination and incentivisation to terror".
Thornberry, unimpressed, said, "let's keep ourselves calm," and restated the question.
Hausdorff eventually suggested a "start-up culture in the West Bank".
"The public will have heard your answers," Thornberry concluded.
As the session went on and MPs put questions to Hausdorff, Thornberry became visibly more frustrated.
The lawyer insisted that Israel has sovereignty over the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem - areas that the United Nations, International Court of Justice and British government consider to be Palestinian territory under Israeli occupation.
Hausdorff threw scorn on the major international institutions and said they could not be trusted.
Thornberry pressed her on the issue. "It's not the Israeli government's position that Israel's border goes from the river to the sea?" she asked multiple times.
Hausdorff responded that Israel "does not need to state that", insisting it was simply the reality.
Abtisam Mohamed, the Labour MP recently denied entry to Israel on the grounds that she would promote "hate speech", which she strongly denied, stepped in to ask a question.
Hausdorff was on the radio publicly endorsing Israel's decision to deny her entry just weeks ago.
Mohamed repeatedly asked Hausdorff whether she believed Palestinians have a right to their own state, eventually yielding a negative response: "Not according to international law, no."
'Oh no, no, no, nah, nah, nah'
The most extraordinary part of the session was still to come.
Questioned on whether Israel is obeying international humanitarian law in Gaza, Hausdorff said that the "two entities I'm aware of that Israel has shared elements of sensitive intelligence with," the United States and Britain, "have consistently said they do not have concerns about Israel's approach to humanitarian law so far as-"
Thornberry interjected.
"Oh no, no, no, nah, nah, nah," the committee chair said loudly. "No, no, no. That is an extraordinary allegation."
Hausdorff appeared exasperated.
"Be careful what you're saying," Thornberry warned her.
"I beg your pardon?" Hausdoff replied. She complained that she had come to parliament "in good faith" yet had been "told to be quiet" while answering questions.
"Please answer this question accurately and with care," Thornberry said.
She then suggested that Britain is not selling arms to Israel that can be used in Gaza because there is a risk of Israel breaching humanitarian law.
Hausdorff insisted that the UK's concerns regarding international law had "nothing to do with the arms that have been embargoed", accusing the government of making a "political" decision that was "deeply deeply troubling".
The pro-Israel lawyer landed herself in hot water with another member of the committee by claiming that the Israeli military has conducted itself with more respect for international humanitarian law than any other army in history.
Labour MP Alex Ballinger appeared infuriated. "I take your claim that the [Israeli army] has the highest standards of international humanitarian law for any army in history as outrageous," he said. "Having served in the British military myself, I think that is a particularly staggering claim."
Hausdorff responded by pointing to British military figures who had made the same claim.
Towards the end of the session, asked about Israel blocking aid from entering Gaza, Hausdorff was reprimanded by Thornberry yet again for speaking about historical incidents.
"Answer the question that you've been asked," Thornberry told her.
"You've been asked specifically about aid not getting in and you're talking about another period of time."
Hausdorff claimed that "if indeed individuals are facing food insecurity in Gaza", it is because Hamas is stealing aid.
She added that the UK's policy is to "encourage Hamas" - at which point Thornberry could be heard saying: "Delusional, delusional.
"Extraordinary, extraordinary."
Less heated exchanges
The exchanges were unusually fiery for a meeting of the foreign affairs select committee. Before Hausdorff's appearance, the committee had questioned Shelly Tal Meron, a member of the Knesset and the centrist Yesh Atid Party, over video.
It was a relatively relaxed and uneventful meeting in which Meron said she supported a two-state solution but that "we have to insist on" eliminating Hamas and defended the Israeli military. These were all views she had previously publicly expressed.
Also more calm was a session with pro-Israel British commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti after Hausdorff left.
Sacerdoti was grilled on whether he supported an end to the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank. He said there were good arguments on both sides.
Thornberry asked him what peace looked like.
"Demilitarisation, deradicalisation, de-jihadism, educating [Palestinians] towards living peacefully with your neighbours," Sacerdoti said.
The foreign affairs select committee recently visited Israel, which provoked a row after Thornberry revealed in March that Israel's deputy foreign minister had posted secretly filmed footage of her and other MPs on Instagram without her "knowledge or consent".
Relations between certain British parliamentarians and the Israeli government are not at their best.
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