Since then, he and a handful of other MPs elected in 2024 – Birmingham Perry Barr’s Ayoub Khan, Blackburn’s Adnan Hussain, Dewsbury and Batley’s Iqbal Mohamed – have been dubbed the ‘Gaza independents’. They, along with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a fringe of radicalised Labour MPs and four Green MPs, have made it their mission to channel the anti-Israel hatred that has already taken over our streets and our institutions into the very heart of our democracy, the House of Commons. Since the General Election, there have been a staggering 17 urgent questions granted on issues to do with Israel and Gaza – almost one in 10 of all urgent questions. Three of the four urgent questions secured by the Greens have been about Gaza. And this doesn’t include urgent questions on broader issues in the Middle East, which are frequently hijacked by anti-Israel fanatics.

A quick peek at the speaking records of the Gaza independents is revealing. Newly elected MPs tend to focus their early efforts on raising issues in their constituency. Not so for the Gaza independents. When Adam said he was elected for the people of Gaza, this was not tongue-in-cheek. Since being elected, he has mentioned Gaza 32 times, Israel 29 times and Leicester South just 29 times. Meanwhile, Iqbal Mohamed has mentioned Israel 51 times and Gaza 40 times, compared with 43 times for Dewsbury and Batley. Adnan Hussain has mentioned Gaza 23 times, Israel 16 times and Blackburn only 20 times. Even Ayoub Khan, whose constituency of Birmingham Perry Barr has long been suffering under crippling bin strikes, has mentioned Gaza and Israel a combined 33 times, compared with his constituency a mere 29 times.

I can only imagine how bizarre it must be for the people of North Herefordshire, who thought they were electing a Green MP to talk about nature reserves and pollution, to hear Ellie Chowns mention Israel and Gaza a combined 50 times and North Herefordshire just 37 times. Astonishingly, she has mentioned Israeli settlements in the West Bank more times than the pollution of the River Wye – a key local issue that she promised to make her top priority if elected.

The frequency with which these MPs have used their platforms in the Commons to pontificate Israel has been dizzying – and their use of parliamentary procedure has been shameless. In just the past few weeks, there has been a backbench business debate on trade with Israeli settlements and a Westminster Hall debate about Israeli influence on British politics.

In the Westminster Hall debate, we had the extraordinary sight of multiple MPs who have been on Qatari-funded trips to Qatar complain about other MPs going on trips to Israel, even though these were funded by British donors to British organisations, such as through Conservative Friends of Israel or Labour Friends of Israel.

To be clear, it is entirely justifiable for parliamentarians to go on state-funded trips, provided they are declared and the MPs go with open eyes. But as John Lamont noted in his brave and powerful contribution to that debate, those MPs were not calling for a review of lobbying regulations or foreign-sponsored trips. They were singling out one country. I will happily leave it to the reader to guess why they were so eager to single out this particular country.

Fortunately, there are many brave MPs who have stood up to all this in parliament. But the fight is extraordinarily one-sided. For even the most ardently pro-Israel MPs, this issue will just be one of many they care about. For some, their motivation for speaking out may be more driven by their principled belief that some balance is needed, rather than from a deeply held, organic desire to talk about Israel. Contrast this with the multiple MPs on the other side, for whom this is what they got into politics for and what gets them out of bed every morning. It’s the same on Britain’s streets. While many view the anti-Israel hate marches with contempt and horror, a small, angry and laser-focussed minority have been able to dominate public discourse.

Needless to say, none of this actually contributes to improving the situation for ordinary Palestinians, or for anyone else in the Middle East. As Hamish Falconer, the Middle East minister, admitted, ‘An inevitable consequence of the actions announced from this despatch box is that the warmth of my relationship with my counterparts in Israel has indeed suffered’. Combined with the UK’s unconditional recognition of a Palestinian state, we have thrown away any leverage we had with the Israeli government and much of the influence we had over the Palestinian Authority. And we have done this merely to indulge a mob who do little more than make this a nastier, unfriendlier country for our small Jewish community – and indeed the rest of us.

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