Tuesday briefing: What David Lammy’s Middle East visit says about Labour’s foreign policy plans

In today’s newsletter: The new foreign secretary has met with officials from Israel, Palestine and relief agencies – but what do his actions and words mean for the conflict?

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Good morning. A few months before the election, David Lammy outlined his vision for Britain’s role on the international stage under a Labour government: “progressive realism”, or “the pursuit of ideals without delusions about what is achievable”. Just over a week into his tenure as foreign secretary, we have our first concrete indications of how he intends to operate those principles in practice.

On a visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories over the last couple of days, his first international trip as foreign secretary, Lammy says he is sending a clear message: “We need an immediate ceasefire, the immediate release of all hostages, the protection of civilians, unfettered access to aid in Gaza and a pathway towards a two-state solution”.

Republican national convention | Donald Trump named JD Vance, the Ohio senator who was once one of his fiercest critics and called him “America’s Hitler”, as his running mate at the Republican national convention on Monday. Trump, wearing a bandage over his wounded ear, shook hands with Vance in his first public appearance since the assassination attempt against him.

US politics | A Florida judge appointed by Donald Trump has dismissed the case against him for illegally retaining classified documents, ruling that the special counsel who brought the prosecution had been improperly appointed. The stunning decision, in defiance of precedent going back to the Watergate era, is likely to be appealed.

UK news | Rescue teams on the Spanish island of Tenerife have discovered the body of a young man in the area where the British teenager Jay Slater disappeared four weeks ago. Police said it appeared that the person could have died after an accidental fall from a cliff.

UK-EU relations | Britain is taking its first steps towards forging closer trading links with the EU in meetings between the new business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, and international counterparts in Italy. Reynolds will say that the new UK government wants to foster a “closer, more mature relationship with our friends in the EU”.

Defence | Britain and its allies are facing a “deadly quartet” of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea who are acting together against the west, the newly appointed head of Labour’s defence review said. The comments from former Nato secretary general George Robertson reflect concerns that the grouping are increasingly sharing arms, components and military intelligence.

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Yvette Cooper to chair meeting of taskforce considering ‘alarming rise’ in candidate intimidation – as it happened

Home secretary to host meeting of government’s Defending Democracy taskforce after reported rise in harassment during election campaign

More in Common, the group that campaigns to reduce polarisation in politics, published a good slideshow presentation last week, based on polling it carried out, giving an analysis of the general election results. It has followed that up today with the publication of a 129-page report on the election, based on the same polling and on what it learned from focus groups.

One of the main interesting points it makes is that the government will be judged, above all, on whether it can bring down NHS waiting lists and the cost of living, polling suggests. The report says:

How does the public plan to judge the government on its delivery of change and what benchmarks will they use to evaluate progress?

First and foremost, the public will look to NHS waiting lists and the cost of living to judge Labour’s success or failure. These are top performance indicators for every segment, with the elderly tending to be more concerned than average about waiting lists and younger generations more so about the cost of living. As inflation falls and interest rates seem set for a summer cut, waiting lists are arguably the new government’s key challenge in maintaining public support.

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UK foreign secretary repeats ceasefire call as Israel continues to pummel Gaza

David Lammy holds second day of meetings with Israeli officials but hopes of immediate ceasefire are dwindling

Israeli air and naval strikes continued to pummel Gaza as the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, reiterated his demand for a ceasefire during a visit to Jerusalem.

Strikes on central Gaza followed two days of particularly deadly attacks including one in a humanitarian zone in southern Gaza that killed at least 90 people when Israeli forces targeted the head of Hamas’s military wing, Mohammed Deif.

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David Lammy to call for Gaza ceasefire in talks with Benjamin Netanyahu

Foreign secretary will also push for release of hostages and increase in aid during visit to Israel and West Bank

David Lammy is to call for an immediate ceasefire during talks with Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on his first visit to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories as foreign secretary.

Lammy said he would push for the release of all hostages as well as an increase in aid into Gaza, announcing a new £5.5m humanitarian and medical assistance package.

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Labour unlikely to rush into proscribing Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

Exclusive: Lammy said to be looking at creating new category of state-sponsored terrorism to allow restrictions to be imposed

Labour is unlikely to rush into proscribing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and will instead examine whether a new category of state-backed terrorism needs to be devised.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, will also consult colleagues on the implications for Iranian foreign policy of the election at the weekend of a reformist-backed president, Masoud Pezeshkian.

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Labour expected to drop challenge to ICC over Netanyahu arrest warrant

Exclusive: UK government appears unlikely to go ahead with legal bid, while Keir Starmer has spoken with Israeli PM over Gaza ceasefire

The new Labour government is expected to drop a bid to delay the international criminal court (ICC) reaching a decision on whether to issue an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

The development came as Keir Starmer, the new UK prime minister, told the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, that he believed the Palestinians had an undeniable right to a Palestinian state. Starmer spoke to Abbas on Sunday about the “ongoing suffering and devastating loss of life” in Gaza.

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Labour would comply with ICC arrest order for Netanyahu, Lammy reiterates

Shadow foreign secretary repeats belief in ‘rules-based order’ and also says UK would not seek EU membership

David Lammy has reiterated that Labour would seek to implement an arrest warrant against Benjamin Netanyahu if one was issued by the international criminal court.

Speaking to CNN, the shadow foreign secretary said a Labour government would comply if an order was issued for the arrest of the Israeli prime minister, adding that he expected the response to be the same all over Europe.

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For Labour, the Gaza crisis is a foreign policy tightrope in waiting

Starmer’s belief in international law and the rise of Labour Friends of Israel offer clues to potential stance on Palestinian statehood

A snap election, and the certainty that the Gaza crisis will not be resolved by polling day, means Keir Starmer already knows the first foreign policy challenge of his expected premiership.

Even if the peace proposal announced by Joe Biden on Friday is accepted by both Israel and Hamas, something a Labour-run Foreign Office would encourage, vast issues remain concerning the future role of Hamas and Iran in Middle Eastern politics, as well as Israel’s conduct in the conflict, and restoration of faith in the universality of international law.

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Blinken delivers message of US support to Kyiv as thousands flee Kharkiv region

US secretary of state promises long-awaited $60bn Ukraine aid package will make ‘real difference on battlefield’

The US secretary of state has arrived in Kyiv delivering a message that Washington remains committed to supporting Ukraine as the country’s forces face their toughest situation on the battlefield for months.

In recent days, Russia has launched an offensive in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, forcing thousands to flee their homes, and on Tuesday hit the centre of Kharkiv, the country’s second biggest city, with airstrikes.

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Three Davids throw off Global Britain bluster and chart new foreign policy course

Speeches by Cameron, Lammy and Miliband all depicted a darkening world but differed on where to find allies

In a TikTok world it’s rare that three big foreign policy speeches come along all at once, all trying to chart a new course for the UK in a more perilous world, and all written by someone christened David.

But it says something for how foreign affairs dominates so much political thinking currently that speeches this week by David Cameron, the foreign secretary, David Lammy, his shadow, and David Miliband, Labour’s non-resident foreign policy guru, all required attention.

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David Lammy says he has ‘serious concerns’ about Israel’s actions in Gaza

Shadow foreign secretary says ‘far too many people have died’ but refuses to back call for immediate ban on arms sales

The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, has said he has “serious concerns about a breach in international humanitarian law” over Israel’s actions in Gaza as “far too many people have died”.

At least 33,037 Palestinians have been killed and 75,668 others have been injured in the Israeli military offensive, according to the Palestinian health ministry, six months on from the 7 October Hamas attack in southern Israel, during which about 1,140 people were killed and 240 others were taken as hostages.

Guardian Newsroom: Crisis in the Middle East
On Tuesday 30 April, 7-8.15pm GMT, join Devika Bhat, Peter Beaumont, Emma Graham-Harrison and Ghaith Abdul-Ahad as they discuss the fast-developing crisis in the Middle East. Book tickets here or at theguardian
.live

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Cameron urged to publish Foreign Office legal advice on Israel’s war in Gaza

Labour presses foreign secretary as human rights groups seek judicial review of government’s refusal to ban arms exports

The shadow UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has urged David Cameron to publish the Foreign Office formal legal advice on whether Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza.

Lammy’s move comes as two human rights groups have been given permission for an oral hearing to seek a judicial review of the government’s refusal to ban arms exports to Israel.

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Netanyahu defies Biden, insisting there’s ‘no space’ for Palestinian state

The Israeli leader is under pressure over course of the Gaza war but is doubling down on opposition to a two-state solution

Defiant Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on opposition to Palestinian statehood, deepening the divide with Israel’s closest international allies, as cracks in his wartime “unity” government became increasingly evident.

Anger with Netanyahu is also increasingly visible on the streets, even though there is broad public support for the war. On Saturday, protesters gathered in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Caesarea and Kfar Saba, some calling for bolder action to secure the release of hostages, and others demanding the prime minister step down.

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Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt David Lammy speech in London

Shadow foreign secretary tries to continue as demonstrators shout and criticise Labour’s stance on Israel-Gaza war

A keynote speech by David Lammy at a Labour-linked thinktank’s conference has been disrupted by protesters who held Palestinian flags as they shouted “ceasefire now”.

As security officials at London’s Guildhall rushed to take the first two individuals out of the building, another three protesters began shouting and criticising Labour’s stance on the Israel-Gaza war as Lammy attempted to continue his speech at the Fabian Society event.

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Netanyahu’s rejection of Palestinian state unacceptable, says David Lammy

Shadow foreign secretary says Israeli president must explain how post-conflict Gaza will operate

The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, has described Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state when the war in the Middle East ends as “unacceptable”.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he echoed Keir Starmer’s reaction to Netanyahu’s stance. Lammy said: “We are committed to the recognition of a Palestinian state. We want to work with international partners to achieve that.”

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Labour steps up criticism of ‘intolerable’ killings in Gaza

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy slams Israeli ‘death and destruction’ and urges UK travel ban on violent settlers

• Read more: Labour will oppose expulsions of Palestinians and bar violent settlers from UK

The Labour party today delivers its strongest criticism of Israel over its attacks on Palestinians, describing the death and destruction in Gaza over the past two months as “intolerable” and attacking two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers for “totally unacceptable” support of illegal settlements in the West Bank.

In a sharp change of tone, David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, with the full backing of party leader Keir Starmer, attacks the Israeli authorities for “turning a blind eye” to violence by settlers in the West Bank, which has “forcibly displaced” more than 1,000 Palestinians from their homes since the attacks on Israel by Hamas on 7 October.

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David Lammy urges UK government to press Israel to end West Bank violence

Letter to James Cleverly criticises ‘offensive rhetoric’ by some Israeli ministers and calls for settlers inciting hatred to be banned from UK

Labour has issued its most direct criticism of the Israeli government since the Hamas attacks on 7 October, criticising the remarks of rightwing Israeli ministers over the West Bank and saying they have been responsible for “unacceptable and offensive rhetoric about Palestinians”.

In a letter to the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, that puts policy daylight between the government and Labour on the crisis in the Middle East, David Lammy demanded to know what had been done to press the Israelis to curb the violence in the West Bank by settlers and government forces.

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Gaza ‘siege conditions’ unacceptable, says Lammy as Labour toughens line on Israel

Shadow foreign secretary toughens line on Israel-Palestine in light of ‘shocking number’ of dead civilians

Labour has warned that the “siege conditions” in place in Gaza are unacceptable and called for an immediate humanitarian pause to the fighting, in the party’s strongest intervention over Israel’s intensifying war against Hamas.

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary who visited the region last week, said that the “number of dead Palestinian civilians and children is shocking” as he called on Israel to take further steps to stop a “humanitarian catastrophe”. He said that Israel “must uphold international law” and also warned of violence in the West Bank.

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Starmer writes to Labour councillors in attempt to quash concerns he’s too pro-Israel – UK politics live

Letter from Labour leader stresses his concern for international law and sympathy with the plight of the Palestinian people

Rishi Sunak will be taking PMQs shortly. It will be his first exchange with Keir Starmer since the party conferences.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

We were the victims of an inside job by someone, we believe, who over a long period of time was stealing from the museum and the museum put trust in.

There are lots of lessons to be learnt as a result of that, the member of staff has been dismissed by us. The objects have started to be recovered … We have changed our whistleblowing code, changed our policy on thefts … tightened up security on thefts.

If someone is entrusted by an organisation to look after something and they are the person removing those objects, that is hard for any organisation, and it was hard for the museum, where there is a trusting culture.

If that trust is completely abused and as I think will become clear in the coming months quite a lot of steps were taken to conceal that, it wasn’t just that things were taken, records were altered and the like, it’s hard to spot.

We are intending to put on display the objects we have recovered, there is a lot of public interest in these objects.

350 have now been recovered and titles have been transferred to us so we have the makings of a good exhibition that was not previously planned.

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Labour wants new EU links in a reset of British foreign policy

Ties with Europe are a top priority, says shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, as he calls for Britain to play a lead role in world affairs

The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, has proposed regular meetings between UK and European Union ministers, as part of a major reset of British foreign policy under a Labour government.

Lammy, who was attending a gathering of centre-left leaders in Montreal, Canada, with the Labour leader Keir Starmer, told the Observer it was high time the UK took up its place again, after Brexit, as a lead player in world affairs. “A UK that is isolated and missing is felt across the world. It is definitely the case that the international community want Britain back,” he said.

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