Local MP Dr Rupa Huq challenges Lord David Cameron on Gaza – EALING.NEWS – The Voice of Ealing 7 towns

As Parliament is dissolved on Thursday (30 May 2024) ahead of the general election on 4 July 2024, Ealing Central and Acton MP Dr Rupa Huq said she would continue to press the government on the situation in Gaza.

Dr Huq is one of 56 Labor MPs who voted in Parliament to back a ceasefire motion in November 2023.

Recently, the MP, who is standing for the fourth time, spoke to Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron along with Billy Vaughan, public affairs officer for the Quakers of Great Britain.

During their impromptu meeting, both Dr Huq and Mr Vaughan lobbied Lord Cameron to halt arms sales to Israel and the Israeli attack on Rafah.

Dr Huq said: “In the last seven months since this war broke out, I have questioned Rishi Sunak in public in Parliament as well as the Foreign Secretary on the Rafah invasion, along with Quakers’ Billy Vaughan. I asked what we were doing to stop Rafah’s impending incursion and why we couldn’t question him, which I think is a huge democratic deficit.”

She added: “In his usual fashion, he dismissed Billy and I, informing us that he had just spent a few hours in front of the House of Lords committee and appeared at the MPs’ Liaison Committee. However, none of these are open to backbenchers like me. I will continue to press relentlessly on the government on Rafah, against UK arms sales to Israel, for the resettlement of Gaza refugees, a massive aid injection, including the restoration of funding to UNWRA and, importantly, an immediate and much-needed ceasefire. “

Billy Vaughan of Quakers UK commented: “It was good to have the opportunity to join Rupa Huq in holding the Foreign Secretary to account for his refusal to stop arms export licenses to Israel.”

He added: “Quakers in Britain have joined other religious groups in calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to foreign military support for Israel. The global arms trade allows a small minority to profit from the killing and suffering of others, and nowhere is this more evident now than in Gaza.
“UN experts have described what is happening in Gaza as genocide and yet the government still refuses to publish its legal advice that Israel is committing war crimes.