Inside the surreal UK parliament debate on pro-Israel influence dominated by lobby group members

The UK parliament's Westminster Hall saw a highly unusual debate on Monday evening on a petition to "call a public inquiry into pro-Israel influence on politics & democracy".

The petition, which received more than 118,000 signatures from members of the public, said: "We are concerned about reported Israeli state-linked and pro-Israel lobbying activity in UK politics. We believe it is important to determine the scope and impact of any such influence campaigns."

Petitions to parliament which receive more than 100,000 signatures are always debated on.

However, this debate consisted mainly of Conservative and Labour MPs who are members of pro-Israel groups saying the petition was antisemitic, while a minority who spoke in favour of it posed detailed questions about lobbying and transparency which went unanswered.

James Frith, a government minister and the parliamentary under-secretary of state for digital government, said that "the government do not support a public inquiry solely on pro-Israeli influence".

Read more: Inside the surreal UK parliament debate on pro-Israel influence dominated by lobby group members