On 7 April 2025, Caabu and Muslim Aid co-hosted our Eid reception in Parliament, marking the end of Ramadan. While Eid should be a time for celebration following a period of fasting and reflection, the focus of the reception was on the horrifying ordeal of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, as well as on the suffering of Muslims globally such as in Sudan and Yemen, and also on situations of hope, as we all look to Syria and hopefully the end of the 15 years of civil war.
This was an important gathering of MPs from across all parties, former Ministers, a former Foreign Secretary, ambassadors, and civil society and humanitarian partners.
Key guests included the Ambassador to the UK for the Palestinian Mission H.E Husam Zomlot, the Ambassador of Jordan to the UK H.E Manar Dabbas, former foreign secretary James Cleverly, the Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for International Development Monica Harding, and MPs from across the political spectrum, including Kit Malthouse, Abtisam Mohamed, who Caabu was able to support as one of the MPs deported from Israel, and Shockat Adam, amongst many others.
Speeches began with Caabu Chair the Rt Hon Mr Alistair Carmichael MP (Liberal Democrat), who reaffirmed his commitment to speaking out in Parliament on the issue of Palestine and supporting the mission of Caabu. This came at the back of the recent diplomatic incident in which Abtisam Mohamed MP and Yuan Yang MP were detained, denied entry to, and deported from Israel during a parliamentary delegation organised by Caabu and MAP. In his opening remarks, he emphasised his solidarity with both Yuan and Abtisam, the latter present at this reception, as well as the importance of Caabu’s parliamentary delegations to the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Mustafa Faruqi, the Chair of Muslim Aid, also gave a speech highlighting the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza saying that “I know I speak for many of the 4 million Muslims in the UK who do not really feel like celebrating [Eid]. The prophet Muhammed said that “believers in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever”. And we’ve been in that state of wakefulness and fever since 2023 with over 50,000 of our Palestinian brothers and sisters killed since then and more than double that number injured and missing.”
He went on to talk about the vital lifesaving work that Muslim Aid is doing across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as well as in Sudan and Myanmar. He called on decision makers in the room to (especially in light of the recent reduction of the foreign aid budget) “help us do our work or at least stop those who prevent us from doing so. Stop selling arms to governments that will use them on civilians, aid workers and journalists. Arrest and support the prosecution of those wanted for war crimes. Enforce the ceasefires and United Nations resolutions. And sanction those who illegally occupy others’ lands and prevent the delivery of aid”. Through this, he emphasised the importance of the government addressing the root causes of conflicts through political action, warning that “the fallout of those conflicts will continue to reverberate around the world and find its way onto our shores – sometimes literally”.
Caabu director Chris Doyle re-emphasised the importance of the parliamentary delegations Caabu carries out, highlighting the fact that Caabu has taken 161 MPs and peers since 1997 to the OPT, including Sir Alan Duncan and Alistair Carmichael.
He noted how despite the blow and detention of our elected representatives and colleagues, it was really heartening to hear MPs from across the house – including Kit Malthouse and Andy Slaughter, both of whom were present – standing up in the chamber to express their dismay at the Israeli decision and solidarity with their colleagues. He also affirmed that MPs who speak out against atrocities are in line with their constituents and public opinion, where according to polls carried out by Caabu and MAP, there seems to be a chasm between public opinion and political leadership:
84% of the public support the ICC
58% support a total arms embargo
He also paid tribute to the ambassadors in the room.
However, the focus was on the triple processes of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and genocide that is happening across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as determined by leading human rights organisations. He also turned to the plight of Syria, and the fragile situation, as well as Sudan, in which 14 million people have been displaced during its brutal civil war over the last nearly 2 years, and Yemen, the poorest country in the region.
Our Keynote speaker and Caabu patron, Sir Alan Duncan, gave a rousing speech about the situation that Palestinians face on the ground, saying that “while Gaza has been all but erased, settler violence on the West Bank has significantly increased, settlement building has expanded, and the demolition of Palestinian homes has continued to be overseen by the state of Israel. You have to be a naïve sucker not to understand that this is all part of a plan to turn all of Palestine into becoming part of Israel. So relentless has the destruction of Palestine become that the western media and western politicians seem to have exhausted their outrage and concern”. He also spoke about the importance of speaking out, highlighting the fact that "Israel has killed 55,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children. They have killed medics and aid workers. They have banned UNRWA and blocked humanitarian aid. They have displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes... bombed hospitals... denigrated the United Nations, repudiated the International Criminal Court, and banned the free press... But they don’t care who they kill, and they excuse their murder by simply labelling anyone a terrorist. It is a cruel irony that at a time when the US is demanding that other nations pull their own weight in defending themselves, no military action is more heavily subsidised by the United States than Israel’s occupation and violence in Palestine. And US politicians’ calls for free speech appear utterly perverse when in their next breath they threaten universities with the withdrawal of federal funding or support or even allow pro-Palestinian voices to have their say. It therefore means that we should speak out.”
His full speech is available here.
Speeches closed off with Ambassador H.E Husam Zumlot, who stressed the fact that “attacks are not just against Palestinians but against the international legal and rules-based order”. He also welcomed the Palestinian chapter from Friends of the Earth, placing spotlight on the fact that the Israeli bombardment of Gaza is also an attack on the livelihood and environment within the Occupied Palestinian Territory, creating an unliveable environment, helping to facilitate ethnic cleansing, genocide, and displacement.
Overall, this reception aimed to support the efforts of those MPs pushing for meaningful action to demand that the UK upholds its responsibility under international law to support the rights of the Palestinian people to live free from occupation, with their full rights and dignity.
