Senior lawyer says ‘ink is almost dry’ on the guilt of many MPs who have enabled and covered Israel’s atrocities
Keir Starmer, Rishi Sunak and other UK MPs may be looking uneasily over their shoulder tonight after receiving a renewed warning from the lawyer leading a pro-Palestinian justice group about their own guilt regarding Israel’s war crimes, after International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced he has requested arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant.
Tayab Ali, a partner in Bindmans, one of the world’s leading human rights law firms, and a director of the International Centre for Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) published his stark warning on Twitter/X this evening, telling MPs who have supported and enabled Israel’s atrocities against the people of Gaza that it is now too late for them to do much to avoid their guilt and complicity, because ‘the ink of history on your potential complicity is almost dry and you already made your decision’ – and that ICJP will be demanding personal legal accountability for guilty MPs:
Palestinian who fled Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip ride with their belongings in the back of a truck, as they arrive to take shelter in Deir el-Balah in the central part of the Palestinian territory on May 12, 2024. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
“The first step for Third States in upholding their own legal obligations to ensure [international humanitarian law] is respected is to stop the Rafah invasion, open all land crossings and lift internal barriers for humanitarian access,” said an international coalition.
While ordinary citizens from across the globe have expressed their condemnation of the ongoing carnage and suffering in Gaza, a coalition of 20 international human rights groups on Wednesday excoriated world leaders for standing idly by as Israel carries out “a grave violation of international humanitarian law” with its military assault on Rafah.
With the United Nations agencies reporting that as many as 450,000 people have already attempted to flee the encircled southern city where more than 1.4 million had sought refuge, a joint statement by the groups—including Amnesty International, Oxfam, Médecins du Monde International Network, and Mercy Corps—rebuked Israel’s evacuation orders as “unlawful” and chided third-party countries for violating their own obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) by refusing to intervene.
“Third States have the responsibility to urgently act in bringing to an end, and pursue accountability for, the Grave Breaches of IHL taking place in Gaza,” said the groups. “The first step for Third States in upholding their own legal obligations to ensure IHL is respected is to stop the Rafah invasion, open all land crossings and lift internal barriers for humanitarian access.”
According to the statement, Israel’s ongoing violations are clear and obvious:
The Israeli military’s “evacuation orders” are unlawful and amount to forcible transfer, a grave violation of international humanitarian law (IHL). Israel has ordered hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee, without providing civilians and humanitarian actors clear information nor timeframe. IHL sets clear conditions for an evacuation to be lawful: the occupying power must ensure that these displacements are temporary and that displaced persons are provided with satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition, and members of the same family must not be separated. Israeli authorities have failed to meet any of these requirements.
With Wednesday marking the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, when Palestinians were forced to leave their homes en masse following the establishment of the Israeli state in 1948, a new wave of forced displacement is now upon the people of Gaza only served to heighten the harsh reality for those with nowhere safe to go.
Ilan Pappe, a scholar of Palestinian history at the University of Exeter, explained to Al-Jazeera that while some comparisons with the original Nakba make sense, what is happening now to the people of Gaza is “even worse” in many ways.
“What we see now are massacres which are part of the genocidal impulse, namely to kill people in order to downsize the number of people living in Gaza,” Pappe said. On Tuesday, a group of ultra-nationalist Israelis, including members of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Cabinet, marched in the city of Sderot near the Gaza border as they called for resettlement of the enclave.
“Ethnic cleansing is a terrible crime against humanity but genocide is even worse,” said Pappe. “So I think we are seeing a transition from using ethnic cleansing as the main method of taking as much of Palestine as possible, with as few Palestinians in it as possible—we are moving into a far more lethal method, that of genocide.”
According to the joint declaration by rights groups on Wednesday, Israel’s military assault in Rafah is “disrupting the humanitarian response” of relief organizations and the United Nations, amounting to a “breach of the U.N. Security Council resolutions 2720 and 2728 as well as the International Court of Justice’s provisional measures ordering Israel to enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance.”
In remarks Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said Israel’s escalating military operations and evacuation orders in Rafah “are further impeding humanitarian access and worsening an already dire situation.”
“For people in Gaza,” said Guterres, “nowhere is safe now.”
Despite the concerns from U.N. agencies and international relief groups, the U.S. government under President Joe Biden on Tuesday said it was preparing a $1 billion weapons shipment for Israel to bolster its military capabilities.
Joe Biden is so frustrated with his great old friend Benjamin Netanyahu, and concerned about Palestinian lives in Gaza, that he's decided to approve a new billion dollar arms package for Israel's genocidal war. pic.twitter.com/otr0Xl98Xu
Because of such military support, the human rights coalition argued in its Wednesday declaration that the U.S. “bears a significant responsibility” for Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law. “In addition to halting the transfer of high payload bombs, the U.S. should also use all its leverage to halt the ongoing military operation in Rafah,” the groups said.
Those in the human rights coalition said it is the Palestinian people paying the price for the failure of world leaders to meet their obligations to put a stop to the forced displacement of civilians in Gaza.
“We have been warning for months that Israel must be stopped from entering Rafah or Gaza would face an even greater humanitarian catastrophe” than it already has, said Florence Rigal, president of Médecins du Monde France. “The inaction of third countries is seen as a lack of concern for the consequences for the exhausted civilian population. It is unacceptable and immediate action must be taken to prevent further suffering.”
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in the South Court Auditorium at the White House on February 16, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
The new shipment was announced “right after the State Department admits Israel has ‘likely’ used U.S.-supplied weapons in violation of humanitarian law,” said one journalist.
Less than a week after U.S. President Joe Biden said he was pausing a shipment of thousands of bombs to Israel, citing concerns over the safety of civilians in Rafah and other “population centers” in Gaza, the White House informed Congress Tuesday that it will soon send over $1 billion more in arms and ammunition to the Israel Defense Forces.
The package includes about $700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles, and $60 million in mortar rounds, congressional aides told TheAssociated Press.
Despite the Biden administration’s repeated claims that it believes U.S. bombs should not “be dropped in densely populated cities,” Intercept reporter Prem Thakker pointed out that the arms shipment was announced days after the State Department admitted in a report that it was “reasonable” to conclude Israel has used U.S. weapons to violate international humanitarian law in its relentless bombing of Gaza.
Right after the State Department admits Israel has “likely” used US-supplied weapons in violation of humanitarian law, right after Israeli forces attack a United Nations car in *Rafah*, killing an Indian worker…Biden moves to send $1 billion more of weapons to Israel: pic.twitter.com/7GBh1ibJSa
It was unclear whether the $1 billion shipment was part of an existing arms sale or a new transaction with Israel. The weapons are not among those included in the $17 billion in military aid for the IDF included in a foreign aid package passed last month.
At Al Jazeera, Shihab Rattansi reported that the weapons shipment is “being presented as the long-term U.S. commitment to supplying Israel with weaponry” and “has been under consideration since mid-spring,” with some of the weapons potentially not reaching the IDF for months or even up to three years.
But foreign policy analyst Rula Jebreal suggested that regardless of whether the weapons are used in Rafah, where Israel is currently expanding its assault, the shipment goes “against U.S. national security interest and global standing” and will aid Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “on his lawless path of colonization.”
Against US’ national security interest and global standing…President Biden proceeds with $1 billion in weaponry for Israel…as Netanyahu continues on his lawless path of colonization, mass slaughter/starvation of 2+ mil Palestinians in Gaza, and creeping annexation of West Bank. pic.twitter.com/8HrsZicSVC
The shipment was announced ahead of a statement released by Amnesty International and other humanitarian groups condemning international governments—including that of the U.S.—for standing by as Israel has killed at least 35,173 Palestinians in Gaza since October while also blocking nearly all humanitarian aid, pushing part of the enclave into famine that is expected to spread.
The U.S. and other suppliers of weapons to Israel must respect last month’s United Nations Human Rights Council resolution demanding an end to weapons sales to the IDF, said the groups.
“As the main weapon provider for Israel’s military effort, the United States bears a significant responsibility for Israel’s international humanitarian law violations. In addition to halting the transfer of high payload bombs, the U.S. should also use all its leverage to halt the ongoing military operation in Rafah,” said the organizations, including Relief International and Oxfam. “All states must act now to ensure an immediate and sustained cease-fire.”
Amnesty released an analysis late last month showing that U.S. bombs were used in attacks on Gaza that likely fit the definition of war crimes.
Al Jazeera‘s Tareq Abu Azzoum reported Wednesday from Deir el-Balah, Gaza that Israel has intensified its attacks on Rafah as well as in cities in northern Gaza.
“Over the past couple of hours, we have recorded more victims in central areas of Gaza City,” reported Abu Azzoum. “Ten Palestinians have been killed in the city’s Sabra neighborhood after a U.N.-run clinic was targeted by Israeli jets.”
The IDF said Tuesday that it had hit more than 100 targets across the Gaza Strip in a 24-hour period and was continuing to carry out attacks in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced since October.
Nearly 450,000 people have now been forced to flee the southern city once again, and Al Jazeerareported Tuesday that at least one family that escaped Israel’s Rafah incursion was killed days later in an attack on a refugee camp.
Moving forward with another weapons shipment to Israel, said U.S. economic justice group Debt Collective, was “murderous” and “immoral.”
“People have stayed in Rafah thinking it’s safe and hoping that global pressure would stop an invasion. But now we are abandoned by the world and everyone feels betrayed and let down,” one aid worker said.
A Palestinian who died as a result of Israeli attacks is brought to Al Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza on May 12, 2024. (Photo: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“It’s a real diplomatic punch,” a former Israeli diplomat said. “Israel would have to take it very seriously.”
“I’d make this the lead story in every paper and newscast on the planet,” said Bill McKibben. “If we don’t understand the depth of the climate crisis, we will not act in time.”
“If someone is speaking more about ‘violent encampments’ than they are about violent genocide of the Palestinians, they have a problem reflective of deep and dangerous biases,” said one supporter.
Just Stop Oil activists demonstrate in Parliament Square, Westminster, central London, to demand the government immediately halt all new oil, gas and coal projects in Britain, October 30, 2023Image of InBedWithBigOil by Not Here To Be Liked + Hex Prints from Just Stop Oil’s You May Find Yourself… art auction. Featuring Rishi Sunak, Fossil Fuels and Rupert Murdoch.
Rees-Mogg claimed this was “nonsense” and that no fossil fuel subsidies were handed out. He argued that they were tax breaks not subsidies and that the two were “completely different”, before cutting off the interview telling Vince to “do your homework”.
The energy boss did, and hit back with a video in which he explains how tax breaks are subsidies, as laid out in a piece of Brexit legislation passed when Rees-Mogg himself was Brexit Minister.
Vince refers to a piece of Brexit legislation, the Subsidy Control Act 2022, which replaced EU laws with new British legislation which he said lays out that tax breaks are in fact counted as subsidies.
In the video Vince said: “It begs the question, Mr Mogg, were you not paying attention when you were Brexit Minister passing pieces of legislation, did you not know that it was EU rules that say that tax breaks are subsidies and UK rules as well, both inside and outside the EU? Have you not done your homework?”
The New Economics Foundation has estimated that oil and gas extractors could receive up to £18.5bn in tax relief between 2023 and 2026, while the UK government gave fossil fuel companies £20bn more in support than renewables from 2015 to 2023, research found.
Campaigners have said that owners of the Rosebank development, a massive new, controversial oilfield in the North Sea, are set to receive around £3bn in tax breaks from the UK government.
The british green energy industrialist was praised online for his comeback.
A professor of law wrote on X: “Indeed, and a tax break can also be a subsidy (provided that it is specific) under the rules of the blessed WTO, which Rees-Mogg used to praise so highly. It’s Rees-Mogg who did not do his homework here.”
British spy planes have recorded up to 1,000 hours of footage over Gaza, including from the day Israel assassinated three UK aid workers.
A British Shadow R1 spy plane in flight. (Photo: RAF)
UK government refuses to give details of spy flights but Declassified independently obtains information
British spy plane landed at Israel’s major air force base, Nevatim, in February
UK’s Shadow R1 spy plane can supply intelligence for ‘target acquisition’
ICC could investigate British ministers over complicity in war crimes
The Royal Air Force (RAF) has flown 200 surveillance flights over Gaza since December, it can be revealed.
The UK government refused to give any details about the flights which began on December 3 but Declassified has independently constructed a timeline.
The extraordinary number of missions over the past five months works out at well over a flight per day and continues as Israel invades the supposedly “safe” southern city of Rafah.
March saw the highest number of British spy flights over Gaza with 44 missions.
The new information comes amid speculation that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is set to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers. British officials could also face prosecution for complicity in war crimes, including defence secretary Grant Shapps.
All the British spy flights have taken off from RAF Akrotiri, the UK’s sprawling air base on Cyprus, and have been in the air for around six hours.
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Flightpath of a British Shadow R1 spy on its way to Gaza. (Screengrab: RadarBox)
