MP said to have “ducked” lobby on UK’s role in Gaza genocide. She denies it

On Wednesday (14 May) the Palestine Solidarity Campaign organised a national lobby of Parliament about the UK’s complicity with Israel’s policies of genocide and apartheid. Gabriel Carlyle reports on his unsuccessful attempt to speak to Hastings MP Helena Dollimore, concluding she was deliberately avoiding him. Dollimore has contested that and some of his other claims – her statement is published below.

Wednesday began with the BBC reporting on UN Relief Chief Tom Fletcher’s plea for the UN Security Council to ‘act – decisively – to prevent [Israel’s] genocide [in Gaza] … Demand this ends. Stop arming it. Insist on accountability.’

Noting that ‘for more than 10 weeks, nothing has entered Gaza – no food, no medicine, water or tents’, because of ‘inhumane conditions’ imposed by Israel, he said that one-in-five Gazans now faced starvation.

Green card

At least four local residents had attempted to schedule a meeting with Hastings’ strangely-elusive MP, Helena Dollimore, in advance of Wednesday’s national lobby. But by Tuesday evening, her failure to respond positively meant that I was the only one still committed to going.

Having taken the day off work and made the 90 minute journey up to London, there was over an hour’s worth of queuing to be done before I finally reached Parliament’s iconic Westminster Hall.

At 2.25pm, I was finally able to send a so-called ‘green card’ to Helena Dollimore’s office, informing her that I would be in the Hall until 5pm and wanted to speak to her about the UK’s arms sales to Israel.

Enabling war crimes

In September, the government suspended a small number of arms export licences to Israel. However, it has continued to supply Israel with crucial components for the F35 fighter aircraft – the single largest and most important part of the UK arms trade with Israel – through third countries.

In July 2024, an F-35 was used to drop three 2000lb bombs in an attack on a so-called ‘safe zone’ on Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis – an area with long-standing links to Hastings – killing 90 people. This attack almost certainly violated International Humanitarian Law and may well have been a war crime.

Moreover without the continuous supply of spare parts from the UK, as well as other producer countries, it would be impossible for Israel to keep using F-35 fighter jets to bomb Gaza.

As Campaign Against Arms Trade has noted: ‘[T]he government’s claim that it is impossible to stop the indirect supply of F-35 components to Israel without disrupting the supply chain for all countries involved is highly questionable … The reality is that the UK is placing its relations with the US and the profits of the arms industry above international law and the lives of Palestinian people.’

Dollimore’s silence

The UK government has admitted that there is a ‘clear risk’ that F35 components sent to Israel – whether directly or indirectly – could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law, which makes such exports illegal under UK law. Arms sales to Israel are also prohibited under the Arms Trade Treaty, to which the UK is a party.

Helena Dollimore is not known to have made any public statement about UK arms sales to Israel since her election victory last July. Nor is she known to have made any public statement acknowledging that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

In particular she is not one of the 64 MPs who have signed Early Day Motion 58, calling on the UK government ‘to cease the export of UK arms to Israel’.

Though I’ve sent numerous emails to Helena Dollimore since July, I’ve not received a substantive response (i.e. beyond an automated message acknowledging that I’d sent my message) to any of them.

Dollimore no show

I travelled up to London because I wanted to look her in the eye and ask her if she would publicly call on her government to abide by UK and international law and stop supplying F35 components to Israel, either directly or indirectly.

Over the two-and-half hours after I’d submitted my green card, scores of MPs came down to speak with their constituents. Some were familiar names (Diane Abbott, James Cleverly, Wes Streeting), others less so (Sir Desmond Swayne).

But of Helena Dollimore there was so sign.

Iain Duncan-Smith sent a message that he wasn’t coming down to meet his constituents.

Helena Dollimore didn’t even do that.

At 5pm I left to catch the train back to St Leonards. I’d put my email address on the green card. I checked it when I got back to St Leonards. Nothing.

Stop arming genocide

I also learned that Helena Dollimore had spoken about Gaza in a Parliamentary debate that afternoon. A soft-ball question to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs. Hamish Falconer, ‘welcom[ing]’ the fact that ‘the UK, with our international allies, [had] call[ed] an urgent briefing on the situation at the UN Security Council’.

She referred to Fletcher’s ‘warning about the dire consequences of the situation continuing’, but not his calls to ‘prevent genocide’ by ‘stop[ping] arming it’.

On the UK’s ongoing role in enabling Israel’s crimes she was completely silent.

Helena Dollimore has sent HOT a statement, published here in full, disputing some of Carlisle’s claims, which, she said, were “deeply inaccurate.”

“On Wednesday, I received one green card from a constituent attending Parliament and met with them to hear their views. My office received no notification of a green card submission from Gabriel. I would urge constituents to get in touch first before travelling. On Wednesday I was in the chamber speaking about this very matter, meeting Ministers, and attending meetings in No. 10 Downing Street.

The constituent in question has previously received four responses from me on this issue. Due to problems with his email server, these replies bounced back, so I arranged for a written response to be sent by post. I have spoken repeatedly in Parliament, with Ministers, and in the media about the dire humanitarian situation in the region. In my very first speech in Parliament, I called for an end to the conflict, a peace process, and a two-state solution.

And as I said in the Chamber on Wednesday:

“The situation is intolerable with one in five Gazans facing starvation; the use of aid as a weapon of war by Israel is inexcusable. The continued firing of rockets by Hamas and detention of hostages are also inexcusable, and it all must end. I welcome the UK, with our international allies, calling an urgent briefing on the situation at the UN Security Council. There, the UN humanitarian chief was clear in his warning about the dire consequences of the situation continuing. What steps are this Labour Government taking to get more aid in, get the hostages out and bring about the ceasefire and two-state solution that we all in this House desperately want to see?”

The Minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer MP responded:

“I thank my hon. Friend, who I know has been long committed to these issues and used to be an aid worker herself. She is a doughty advocate on these points. We remain absolutely committed to a two-state solution. We are focusing all our diplomatic efforts on ensuring that the current approach is changed, that we return to a diplomatic solution, and that we have a ceasefire, the release of hostages and a move back to that two-state solution, which, as she rightly puts it, is vital.”

I have met with residents of Hastings, Rye and the villages concerned about both the humanitarian situation in Gaza, and rising levels of antisemitism and islamophobia closer to home. We all want this war to end, and I am always happy to engage respectfully with constituents on these issues. However, I will not tolerate abuse or harassment of my staff or myself, and anyone engaging in this cannot expect a response.”

End of statement. Dollimore’s office has clarified to HOT that the last sentence was not aimed at Carlisle. Readers will note that the statement makes no mention of a government ban on the sale of arms to Israel.

Following some discussion (but not because of criticism on our Facebook page) we have decided to remove from the top of the piece the image shown here – which has appeared in places around Hastings recently – and caused some controversy. The matter is covered in a recent article in the Jewish Chronicle.

 

You can send a polite message to Helena Dollimore MP urging her to publicly support an end to UK arms sales to Israel using https://www.writetothem.com/ and your postcode.

Campaign Against Arms Trade: https://caat.org.uk/

This article was amended by Nick Terdre on 16 and 19 May 2025.

 

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