Pro-Palestine independent MP urges ‘halt the genocide’ in maiden speech

An independent MP has called on the Government to “halt the genocide” in Gaza in their maiden speech in the Commons.

Iqbal Mohamed, the Independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley, also criticised the “double standards” that some politicians “line up” to condemn Russian aggression in Ukraine, but “defend the most heinous crimes of Israel”.

Mr Mohamed was one of four pro-Palestinian Independents elected after beating Labour MPs over discontent with the party’s response to the crisis in the Middle East.

He has since joined Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain in forming a parliamentary group headed by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

In his first speech in the Commons chamber on Tuesday, he said that some had tried to present his election and that of other Independents as “sinister or a threat to democracy.”

“My election had nothing to do with sectarian politics or caricatures about Muslim voters being manipulated by their spiritual leaders,” he told MPs.

“It did have everything to do with the state of our country and the raw anger over Tory complicity and Labour’s refusal to call out the unfolding genocide in Palestine.”

Mr Mohamed said the “ongoing genocide was a huge factor” in his election to Parliament.

He said: “When the Prime Minister endorsed the rights of the Israeli government to cut off water and electricity to the people of Gaza, people in Dewsbury and Batley said, ‘No, not in our name’.”

The member for Dewsbury and Batley went on to say that “most British people want an immediate ceasefire” and “an end to the UK’s complicity”.

“They are sick and tired of the double standards, with politicians lining up to condemn and sanction Russian aggression in Ukraine, yet defend the most heinous crimes of Israel,” he said.

“The compassion for Palestinian lives is not inversely proportional to the compassion for Israeli lives or vice versa.

“All lives are equal, and our compassion must also be equal.

“For the Prime Minister to call for a ceasefire while arming and defending Israel is meaningless and does nothing to bring an end to the killing, and for the Foreign Secretary to yesterday deny genocide is even taking place because the Israelis have not yet killed enough Palestinians, is shameful and is to willfully misrepresent what genocide is.”

He called on the Government to “halt the genocide and to end the 76-year-old, long unlawful occupation”.

The Middle East was not the “only reason” he was elected, Mr Mohamed claimed, as he also criticised the Government’s plans to scrap the winter fuel payment for some pensioners and keep the two-child benefit cap.

He also referred to Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick’s comment that people should be arrested for saying ‘Allahu Akbar’ in public.

“As a British Muslim person of colour, I am alarmed when I hear one of the candidates in the Tory leadership contest say that one million migrants should be deported and Muslims should be arrested for saying Allahu Akbar, which just means ‘God is the greatest’, because I know who the real beneficiaries of those comments will be,” he said.

“We saw where this kind of rhetoric leads – riots on our street, asylum shelters attacked, religious institutions besieged by mobs, families and communities terrorised.

“This place must set the example for the people of Britain to follow.

“We must root out racism and bigotry and reject any narrative that seeks to blame asylum seekers and immigrant communities for the decades of austerity that has eroded the fabric of once secure communities.”

Opening his speech, Mr Mohamed spoke of his pride in being “the second local, born and bred MP for Dewsbury” and the “eldest of six children born to Gujarati Indian immigrants”.

He recalled when as a child he said he asked God to make him one of two things, either a parliamentarian or a Blue Peter presenter, adding “if a Blue Peter producer is watching I’m still available for a guest appearance or a Christmas special”.