He had previously opposed British and American support, including arms supplies, to Iraq during the Iran–Iraq War, and condemned the chemical attack committed by the Iraqi regime against the Kurdish city of Halabja in 1988. Corbyn has criticised Britain's close ties with Saudi Arabia and British involvement in Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. He has called for Tony Blair to be investigated for alleged war crimes during the Iraq War. In June 2018, during his first international trip outside Europe since he was elected Labour leader, Corbyn said: "I think there has to be a recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people to their own state which we as a Labour Party said we would recognise in government as a full state as part of the United Nations." Corbyn is a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, campaigning against conflict in Gaza and what the organisation considers to be apartheid in Israel. Corbyn has also supported limiting arms sales to Israel, saying on "Electronic Intifada": "I think we have to push robustly for the limitation of arms supplies ... Israel is after all facing an investigation ... for war crimes, [at the International Criminal Court] as indeed are the Hamas forces on a much different or lesser scale". In August 2016, Corbyn said: "I am not in favour of the academic or cultural boycott of Israel, and I am not in favour of a blanket boycott of Israeli goods. I do support targeted boycotts aimed at undermining the existence of illegal settlements in the West Bank." At a meeting hosted by Stop the War Coalition in 2009, Corbyn said he invited "friends" from Hamas and Hezbollah to an event in parliament, referred to Hamas as "an organisation dedicated towards the good of the Palestinian people and bringing about long term peace and social justice and political justice in the whole region" and said that the British government's labelling of Hamas as a terrorist organisation is "a big, big historical mistake". Asked on "Channel 4 News" in July 2015 why he had called representatives from Hamas and Hezbollah "friends", Corbyn explained, "I use it in a collective way, saying our friends are prepared to talk," and that the specific occasion he used it was to introduce speakers from Hezbollah at a Parliamentary meeting about the Middle East. He said that he does not condone the actions of either organisation: "Does it mean I agree with Hamas and what it does? Does it mean I agree with Hezbollah and what they do? What it means is that I think to bring about a peace process, you have to talk to people with whom you may profoundly disagree ...