Mass-murdering cnuts. If they collaborate and facilitate genocide aren’t they just as bad as the soldiers actually doing it? Would it happen without them facilitating it? If they’re collaborating with Fascists, aren’t they Fascists themselves?
14/8/24 Mass-murderers of children.
‘Genocide Joe’ Biden
Kamala Harris
Democratic Party
Keir Starmer
David Lammy
Angela Rayner
Rachel Reeves
The UK cabinet
UK Labour Party
Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Amid reports that government officials have expressed doubt that the United Kingdom can continue supporting Israel’s assault on Gaza without breaking international law, a legal expert commissioned by a rights group warned the Labour Party on Wednesday that government ministers could be liable for possible war crimes committed by the Israel Defense Forces.
Global Justice Now director Nick Dearden wrote to Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Wednesday, advising him that the organization has commissioned a leading lawyer, Sam Fowles of Cornerstone Barristers, to provide a legal analysis of the U.K.’s potential breach of international law via its support for Israel.
Fowles determined that “the U.K. and individuals, including government ministers and senior civil servants, may be liable for crimes committed by the Israeli state or Israeli personnel during the country’s ongoing military operation in Gaza and through the country’s unlawful occupation of Gaza and the West Bank,” wrote Dearden, with the potential liability arising from the U.K.’s continued “aid and assistance provided to Israel.”
The legal opinion, said Tim Bierley, campaigner for Global Justice Now, should send “alarm bells… sounding across Whitehall.”
“The U.K. government is putting its own ministers and civil servants at risk of prosecution by its continued failure to withhold support for Israel,” he said.
In a 28-page report, Fowles pointed to the U.K.’s involvement with Israel since October 2023, when the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began its bombardment of Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.
U.K. surveillance aircraft have reportedly flown more than 200 missions over Gaza to assist Israel since October, and about 100 Royal Marines were sent to the Eastern Mediterranean shortly after the Hamas attack. The U.K. has also sent military aid to Israel and granted at least 42 new weapons licenses since Israel began its operations in Gaza, where Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered the IDF to release “all the restraints” that would protect civilian lives.
Israel’s full-scale assault on Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom have been women and children, and has included numerous strikes on so-called “humanitarian zones.” It has also included Israel’s blocking of nearly all humanitarian aid, leading to a mass starvation crisis that United Nations experts last month said qualifies as famine, and the spread of diseases including polio.
According to Fowles’ legal analysis, said Dearden, the U.K. government “could be liable for Israel’s alleged breaches of international humanitarian law and crimes against humanity during its military operation in Gaza since October 2023.”
Fowles also found potential liability for “Israel’s breaches of the right to self-determination and the prohibition of obtaining territory by aggression in its illegal and ongoing occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.”
The barrister pointed out that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on July 19 that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza is unlawful and that it breached international law by obtaining control of the territories by force. The ICJ also ruled in January that it was plausible that Israel has violated Gaza residents’ rights under the Genocide Convention since October 2023.
Fowles’ finding that the U.K. and its high-level government officials could be liable for war crimes was also bolstered, he said, by a report presented in May by the U.N.’s Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which found Israel “had committed multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Dearden wrote that Global Justice Now is hopeful that the findings will lead to “the swift and decisive action needed to end U.K. complicity in Israel’s war crimes,” particularly following the decision of Foreign Office official Mark Smith to resign from the government this week, saying there is “no justification” for continued arms sales to Israel.
The government is reportedly considering an arms embargo on Israel, but Dearden noted that on July 29, officials announced they were “seeking to develop a new trade deal with Israel.”
“We seek to highlight the legal advice which states that ‘it seems likely that the U.K., through its trade relationship with Israel, has helped facilitate the unlawful occupation,'” wrote Dearden.
Earlier this year, lawyers for the Conservative government that was voted out in July advised officials that Israel, with U.K. support, has breached international humanitarian law.
“What on Earth is [the government] waiting for?” asked Bierley. “It is long overdue for the U.K. to match words with actions by immediately suspending arms sales, trade talks, and other aid and assistance to Israel.”
Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/reeves-plans-new-austerity-as-government-debt-rises
MORE austerity is on the agenda as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares a new clampdown on public spending in her autumn Budget.
In a move that risks sparking new divisions and struggle within the labour movement, Ms Reeves is set to prioritise reassuring global money markets over repairing the damage done by the Tories.
She is reported to have been spooked by figures showing public sector borrowing at £3.1 billion in July, £1.8bn more than a year previously and above most expectations.
However, borrowing has fallen over a longer time-frame, but Ms Reeves will pay more attention to the short-term figures and use them as a reason to impose more austerity.
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Unite general secretary Sharon Graham has called for a shift in priorities, saying: “We are the sixth-richest economy in the world, where the 50 richest families are worth £500bn.
“It is clear, irrespective of ‘black holes,’ that we need to consider a wealth tax.”
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/reeves-plans-new-austerity-as-government-debt-rises
ENVIRONMENTAL groups called on the public today to mobilise this autumn and ramp up pressure on the government to tackle Britain’s water pollution crisis.
River Action, Surfers Against Sewage and Greenpeace are among the groups who will join the March for Clean Water in Central London on October 26.
It will mark the end of the first 100 days of the Labour government, and take place just days before Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s first Budget.
An escalating water crisis looms, driven by factors such as ageing infrastructure, lack of investment from water firms and industrial pollution.
More than 3.6 million hours of raw sewage discharges poured into rivers and seas last year — a 105 per cent increase compared with 2022.
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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/splash-288
ENERGY prices are set to rise by 9 per cent in October, experts revealed today — with the “alarming” increase accompanying winter fuel payment cuts.
A typical household’s energy bills are expected to rise to £1,714 a year, up from £1,568, according to energy consultancy Cornwall Insight.
The group said that while the figure is less than the cap previously predicted, there are also likely to be further “modest increases” in January and more rises early in the year due to “recent tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war.”
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End Fuel Poverty Coalition co-ordinator Simon Francis said that instead of offering help, the government has axed winter fuel payments to millions and refuses to confirm if the Household Support Fund will be extended.
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“The reality is that bills will go up compared to today and will be around 65 per cent higher than they were before the energy bills crisis started.
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