British MPs urge Starmer to 'immediately expel' Israeli ambassador

A cross-party group of MPs have sent a letter to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging him to "immediately expel" Israel's ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely.

The letter, sent to Starmer on Thursday, describes Israel's actions in Gaza as genocidal. Lead signatory Adnan Hussain, an independent MP, said the letter requested that the government "act urgently in the face of genocide in Gaza".

It has been signed by every member of the parliamentary Independent Alliance, as well as some Green Party and Scottish National Party MPs.

The letter is also signed by Labour MP Abtisam Mohamed, who sits on parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, which scrutinises foreign policy.

Those behind the letter say that since Britain is a signatory to the Genocide Convention, it "has a clear and binding legal obligation to prevent genocide wherever it occurs".

The letter calls on the government to "immediately expel the Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom as a signal that the UK will not tolerate the continued defiance of international law and the perpetuation of mass atrocities". 

Hotovely once called the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, an "Arab lie" and is an avowed opponent of the creation of a Palestinian state.

Israeli ambassador met with key UK Labour donors and lobbyists throughout Gaza genocide

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The ambassador is also a prominent figure in the UK and regularly intervenes in domestic British politics.

In recent months, she has attacked the BBC and the mayor of London. 

It emerged this week that Hotovely has met with key Labour Party donors and British pro-Israel lobbyists throughout Israel's genocide in Gaza. 

Her diary was obtained and reported on by Declassified UK, after being released following a Freedom of Information request by lawyer Elad Man at Hatzlacha, an NGO promoting social justice in Israel.

Last year, she twice met Stuart Roden, a chairman of Israeli venture capital firm Hetz Ventures, who donated over half a million pounds to Labour ahead of the 2024 general election that brought the party to power.

Hotovely also met Jonathan Goldstein, a property tycoon and former chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, an umbrella body that represents major British Jewish organisations.

Goldstein financially backed Foreign Secretary David Lammy's failed campaign to become London mayor in 2014. 

Horror at genocide in Gaza

The signatories to Thursday's letter further urge the government to "enforce and support international sanctions on Israel", lead an international effort "to deliver immediate and unhindered humanitarian aid to Gaza" and support the International Criminal Court's investigations.

The letter expresses "horror'" at the Israeli government's "intentions to carry out a full military occupation of the Gaza Strip".

Updated letter requesting the government act urgently in the face of genocide in Gaza. Thank you to all my Parliamentary colleagues for signing. pic.twitter.com/XYtlUytJHW

— Adnan Hussain MP (@AdnanHussainMP) August 14, 2025

'This declaration is the latest escalation in a campaign that has already led to the near-total destruction of Gaza," it says.

"The government cannot continue to provide political cover or military support, directly and indirectly, to actions that amount to genocide.

"We make this statement not only as members of Parliament but as human beings. Our silence or inaction in the face of genocide is not neutrality, it is complicity."