Keir Starmer and Rishi Sunak in parliament. (Photo: Alberto Pezzali / Alamy)
Britain’s new government admits Israel could use UK weapons for war crimes in Gaza. So will their Conservative predecessors be investigated for complicity?
This week, the UK government finally decided to suspend some arms export licences to Israel, almost 11 months after the fighting began.
Speaking in parliament, foreign secretary David Lammy announced that “around 30 from a total of approximately 350” arms export licences to Israel had been frozen due to a “clear risk that they might be used to commit” war crimes.
The restrictions include equipment that could be used “in the current conflict in Gaza, such as important components which go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items which facilitate ground targeting”.
By contrast, the previous Conservative government did not cancel any licences for military goods to be sent to Israel between 7 October and the general election.
The latest restrictions consequently indicate that former ministers including Rishi Sunak and David Cameron, as well as Conservative leadership contenders James Cleverly and Kemi Badenoch, were complicit in Israel’s atrocities.
In particular, there is mounting evidence that Lammy’s predecessor, Lord Cameron, “sat on advice” he received that Israel was breaching international humanitarian law (IHL) in Gaza.
‘So obvious’
In January, the Conservative government had 28 extant “high-risk” licences with Israel marked as “most likely to be used by the IDF in offensive operations in Gaza” – a strikingly similar number to that which Lammy has suspended.
And back in March a senior Conservative MP, Alicia Kearns, was secretly recorded telling a Tory fundraiser that the Foreign Office’s legal advice “would mean the UK has to cease all arms sales to Israel without delay”.
A Foreign Office source has now come forward to expose how Cameron was in receipt of “similar” legal advice to that currently being used by Lammy “from at least February onwards”.
“The advice being sent through to the Foreign Office was clear that the breaches of IHL by Israel as the occupying power were so obvious that there was a danger of UK complicity if the licences were not withdrawn”, the source told the Guardian.
Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
“We will assemble at the advertised point, and, in exercising our right to peaceful protest, we will march to the Israeli Embassy.”
We are deeply concerned by the Metropolitan Police’s decision to impose severe and unjustified restrictions on Saturday’s demonstration against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. These new conditions, including a delayed start time of two and a half hours after the advertised assembly, effectively hinder our fundamental right to peaceful assembly and protest. For 18 consecutive marches since October, we have gathered at 12 PM and commenced shortly thereafter—an arrangement that accommodates those travelling long distances, including thousands who have pre-booked coach travel. The last-minute disruption of these plans, without any clear rationale, raises serious questions about the police’s respect for our democratic rights.
Since notifying the police of our intentions on 8 August, we have faced a series of delays, obstacles, and uncooperative behaviour. Meetings have been cancelled without notice, and our reasonable proposal for an alternative route to the Israeli Embassy was dismissed outright. Now, with just four days’ notice, the police have imposed these new conditions without explanation, creating unnecessary obstacles for a demonstration expected to draw over one hundred thousand people.
The treatment of the Palestine movement by the police is unprecedented and deeply troubling. The consistent refusal to consider our proposed routes and the imposition of unreasonable conditions appear to be based on unfounded assumptions that our protests will lead to disruption or disorder, despite our long history of peaceful demonstrations. Such actions risk undermining the right to protest, a cornerstone of democracy.
It is crucial that the police reconsider these actions in light of their responsibility to uphold democratic freedoms. We will assemble at the advertised point, and, in exercising our right to peaceful protest, we will march to the Israeli Embassy. It is essential that the police recognise the importance of respecting the rights of citizens to gather and express their views peacefully.
Responding to David Lammy’s statement to the Commons in which he said that the UK is to suspend 30 arms export licences to Israel after a review found a “clear risk” that UK arms may be used in serious violation of humanitarian law, Ellie Chowns MP said:
Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire. CC image Wikipedia.
“Green MPs have long called for a suspension of arms exports to Israel. The Foreign Secretary’s announcement today is therefore a welcome and significant step, but leaves vital questions unanswered.
“Primarily, why are so many licences exempt from this suspension? I am very concerned that the Government is not consistently applying the principle that there is a clear risk of UK licensed weapons being used in breach of international humanitarian law. The justification for continuing to licence F-35s is no justification at all. There is an ongoing and clear risk and we urge the Foreign Secretary to look again and suspend these licenses.
“If, as he says, the Foreign Secretary takes seriously the risk of UK licensed weapons being used in breach of international humanitarian law, he must go further and suspend all export licences.”
Israeli forces are pictured moving the body of a Palestinian man during a raid in the West Bank city of Hebron on September 1, 2024. (Photo: Hazem Bader/AFP via Getty Images)
“Apartheid Israel is targeting Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously, as part of an overall process of elimination, replacement, and territorial expansion,” said United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese.
An independent United Nations expert warned Monday that “Israel’s genocidal violence risks leaking out of Gaza and into the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole” as Western governments, corporations, and other institutions keep up their support for the Israeli military, which stands accused of grave war crimes in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories, said in a statement that “there is mounting evidence that no Palestinian is safe under Israel’s unfettered control.”
“The writing is on the wall, and we cannot continue to ignore it,” said Albanese, who released a detailed report in May concluding that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza.
“Apartheid Israel is targeting Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously, as part of an overall process of elimination, replacement, and territorial expansion,” Albanese said Tuesday. “The longstanding impunity granted to Israel is enabling the de-Palestinization of the occupied territory, leaving Palestinians at the mercy of the forces pursuing their elimination as a national group.”
“The international community, made of both states and non-state actors, including companies and financial institutions, must do everything it can to immediately end the risk of genocide against the Palestinian people under Israel’s occupation, ensure accountability, and ultimately end Israel’s colonization of Palestinian territory,” Albanese added.
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) September 2, 2024
Defense for Children International–Palestine noted Monday that “dozens of Israeli military vehicles” have “stormed” the West Bank city of Jenin over the past week as “Israeli forces deployed across the targeted refugee camps, seizing Palestinian homes to use as military bases and stationing snipers on the roofs of buildings, subjecting their residents to field investigations.”
“The military bulldozers began destroying the civil infrastructure in Jenin city and camp, which led to the destruction of the main water networks and power outage in several neighborhoods in Jenin and surrounding villages,” the group said. “Israeli forces besieged several hospitals in Jenin and impeded the movement of ambulances and paramedics.”
Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed more than 620 people in the occupied West Bank since October 7, on top of the roughly 40,800 killed by the Israeli military in Gaza.
Unlawful Israeli land seizures have also surged in the West Bank as settlers and soldiers wipe out entire Palestinian communities. The BBC reported Monday that, according to its own analysis, there are “currently at least 196 across the West Bank, and 29 were set up last year—more than in any previous year.”
Israel’s multi-day attack on the West Bank that began last week has intensified fears that unless there’s a permanent cease-fire, the assault on Gaza could expand to the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories and throughout the Middle East.
David Hearst, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Middle East Eye, wrote Monday that “even with the obvious reluctance of Hezbollah and Iran to get involved, all the ingredients are there for a much larger conflagration.”
“An Israel in the grip of an ultra-nationalist, religious, settler insurgency; a U.S. president who allows his signature policy to be flouted by his chief ally, even at the risk of losing a crucial election; resistance that will not surrender; Palestinians in Gaza who will not flee; Palestinians in the West Bank who are now stepping up to the front line; Jordan, the second country to recognize Israel, feeling under existential threat,” Hearst wrote.
For U.S. President Joe Biden or Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, he added, “the message is so clear, it is flashing in neon lights: The regional costs of not standing up to Netanyahu could rapidly outweigh the domestic benefits of being dragged along by him.”
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, similarly argued Tuesday that “the U.S. must reverse course—and do so dramatically.”
“A long-overdue cut-off of U.S. arms to Israel and recognition of the Palestinian right to self-determination would provide exactly the shock to the system that is needed,” Zogby wrote. “It would force an internal debate in Israel, empowering those who want peace. It might also serve to send a message to the Palestinian people that their plight and rights are understood.”
These actions, especially if followed up with determination and concrete steps, won’t end the conflict tomorrow,” Zogby continued, “but they would surely put the region on a more productive path towards peace than the one it is on now.”
Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Israeli occupation forces use diggers to prevent journalists from covering the destruction in Jenin amid ongoing raids in the occupied West Bank. At least 4 journalists have been injured as they came under direct attacks by Israeli snipers, despite them wearing their press vests.
