HOME SECRETARY WRONG TO HINT THAT ISRAELI PM MIGHT BE ARRESTED IN UK SAYS KEVIN HOLLINRAKE
HOME Secretary Yvette Cooper is wrong to suggest that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu might risk arrest if he visits the UK, according to Shadow Housing Secretary Kevin Hollinrake.
He also slammed the government for cutting defence spending, and the police for investigating non-crime hate incidents, saying: “You police the streets, not the tweets.”
On the Home Secretary’s comments, Hollinrake told GB News: “I think it’s totally wrong and the wrong approach, it won’t bring about the solution we need, it needs a diplomatic solution.
“To draw some kind of moral equivalence between Hamas and the Israeli leader is totally wrong.
“A Conservative government would have opposed these measures. We wouldn’t have complied with it for a number of reasons, even legally, Israel is not a signature to the Rome Statute which the International Criminal Court is based upon.
“Palestine is not a recognised state, so it’s not legally watertight. And I think, as an ally of Israel, we should stand up against it.”
He said the government should be increasing defence spending: “We’re one of the highest spenders in NATO, constantly have been, but we recognise there are growing threats around the world.
“That’s why we committed to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030 and that is a commitment not matched by the Labour government.
“They have made some kind of general commitment to get there at some point in the future, but the threat is now, and we should bolster our defences now. We made that firm commitment, Labour should do the same.”
Hollinrake added: “We made that commitment to get to 2.5% of GDP in terms of defence spending. Keir Starmer has got to make good on that commitment by 2030.
“Make a firm commitment now, because what we saw last week in Parliament, we saw making cuts in our defences in terms of some of our naval vessels, for example, which really will make it much more difficult for us to defend ourselves and to support other nations under attack.”
Asked about the controversy over police forces investigating social media posts, he said: “You police the streets, not the tweets. It’s ludicrous.
“The police are working hard enough as it is. They got so many challenges right now. We want to see them on the streets, fighting crime on our streets, we want people to feel our streets are safer. That’s what we want.
“If people say things on Twitter, whatever they say, if people don’t like it, just ignore it.
“If it’s not a crime, the police shouldn’t be involved.”
