Plaid Cymru MPs call for Israel boycott over Gaza

Ap Iorwerth said Israel had acted contrary to international law but declined to support calls for a boycott himself.

“Individuals will take different positions on matters like boycotts,” he said.

“Those attacks a year ago were appalling, and we condemn them. We need to see the release of surviving hostages, but we also need to call out the state of Israel.”

About 1,200 people – mostly Israeli civilians – were killed in the Hamas 7 October attacks.

Since then, some 42,000 people have been killed as part of Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The Plaid motion cites Amnesty International, which in 2022 said that Israel’s laws, policies and practices against Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories amounted to apartheid.

It said it maintained “an institutionalised regime of oppression and domination of the Palestinian population for the benefit of Jewish Israelis”.

At the time, Israel’s foreign ministry had accused Amnesty of recycling “lies, inconsistencies, and unfounded assertions that originate from well-known anti-Israeli hate organisations”.