British MP calls for expulsion of Israeli ambassador from UK

British lawmaker also wants the UK to ban arms sales to Israel.

Susan Tawil, World Israel News

A British lawmaker is calling for the expulsion of Israel’s ambassador to London, and for a ban on arms sales to the Jewish state.

During a debate January 8th in Britain’s House of Commons on the “Situation in Israel and Palestine,” MP Zarah Sultana called for the expulsion of Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely.

Sultana also called for the UK’s support of South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, urged a ban on the sale of arms to Israel, and called for an immediate Israeli ceasefire in the Gaza war.

Sultana, 30, is a British Muslim of Pakistani ancestry.

She was first elected to the Lower House of Parliament in 2019, when she was 26, and was one of the youngest Members of Parliament.

She is a member of the Labour Party for Coventry South.

In the past, she has accused Parliament of being Islamophobic and institutionally racist.

On January 3, Israeli Ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely was interviewed on LBC (London Broadcasting Company) talk radio by broadcaster Iain Dale.

Hotovely, a member of Likud, defended the IDF’s counter-terror operation in the Gaza Strip, following the barbaric Hamas massacre and wounding of thousands of Israelis on October 7th.

Hotovely maintained that every building in Gaza is a legitimate target for the IDF because of the network of terrorist tunnels beneath.

“Every school, every mosque, every second house is an access to the tunnels,” she said. When Dale sparred: “So destroy all of Gaza?” she parried: “Do you have another solution?”

The ambassador didn’t mention that Israel is trying to clear out the tunnels in the most humanitarian way possible.

Civilians are warned before buildings are bombed, so they will clear the area and stay out of harm’s way. Weapons and booby traps have been found in children’s toys and backpacks, and even in hospital medical equipment (such as MRI machines).

Gaza is infested with terrorists lurking in tunnels interlaced in the civilian infrastructure, such as schools, mosques, and houses. Terrorists often shield themselves with civilians, including the Israeli hostages, and even their own children.

Sultana, however, accused Hotovely of “grotesque genocidal rhetoric,” and called on Parliament for her to be expelled.

Sultana also called for the UK to support the case brought against Israel by South Africa at the UN’s International Court of Justice in the Hauge.

MP Sultana accused the British government of “complicity” in the “Israeli atrocity” and demanded an immediate Israeli cease fire. She also enjoined the UK to deny the further sale of arms to Israel.

Minister of State Mr. Andrew Mitchell politely countered Sultana’s directives, maintaining that Great Britain was pursuing enactment of a “sustainable cease fire” with “humanitarian pauses,” an increase in humanitarian aid to Gazans, and an eventual “two-state solution,” with the Gaza Strip ultimately under Palestinian rule.

BritainIsrael Britain relationsTzipi Hotovely