Prime Minister Rishi Sunak departs 10 Downing Street, London, to attend Prime Minister’s Questions at the Houses of Parliament, March 20, 2024
‘Morally bankrupt’ Sunak doubles down on Israel arms sales
THE GOVERNMENT is “making a mockery” of international law, campaigners charged after Rishi Sunak doubled down on continuing arms sales to Israel.
Mr Sunak was ridiculed today after he said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “needs to do more” to alleviate suffering in Gaza while dodging calls to suspend arms sales to Israel.
Speaking to LBC, the British Prime Minister admitted that the humanitarian situation in Palestine is “dire” but that there had been “no change” in continuing arms sales.
When asked if the government had received fresh advice on arming Israel, after air strikes murdered three British aid workers earlier this month, Mr Sunak said assessments had been “carried out periodically.”
Lindsey German from Stop the War Coalition said that the decision to continue the exports while providing “weak criticism of Israel” demonstrates nothing but “moral bankruptcy and cowardice.”
People take part in a pro-Palestine protest, organised by London for a Free Palestine, outside the Department of Business and Trade in Old Admiralty Building, central London, March 28, 2024
AS THE death toll in Gaza tops 33,000, calls are mounting for an ethics probe into whether Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron and Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch are violating the ministerial code over Britain’s arms sales to Israel.
MPs have faced increasing calls to stop arms sales after three British aid workers were killed in an attack by Israeli forces on Monday.
Campaign Against Arms Trade says the engine of the drone used in the attack was produced in Britain by UAV Engines.
More than 600 lawyers signed a letter warning Britain to suspend the sales, or risk committing serious violations of international humanitarian law.
It added that nationals responsible for aiding and abetting international crimes are liable for prosecution.
In January, documents filed in High Court showed that Lord Cameron recommended British arms sales to Israel despite “serious concerns” in the Foreign Office that it had breached international law.
The document was filed in defence to a challenge by Global Action Network and Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, which said Britain had a “legal and moral obligation” to not grant the exports.
42 MPs have signed an Early Days Motion calling for the government to immediately publish the legal advice findings
The UK government has failed to make public legal advice that Israel “has broken humanitarian law”, a senior Tory MP has claimed, which would require the UK to cease all arms sales to Israel.
In a leaked recording at a Tory fundraiser, Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee, Alicia Kearns, said she remained “convinced” that the government has completed its updated assessment on whether Israel has breached international law, but has not announced the findings.
If the government has received advice from its own lawyers that Israel has breached international law, legal experts have said the UK must cease all arms sales to Israel immediately or risk putting the UK in breach of international law itself, as the country would be seen aiding and abetting war crimes.
Kearns told the gathering in London: “The Foreign Office has received official legal advice that Israel has broken international humanitarian law but the government has not announced it.
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42 MPs from eight parties have signed an Early Day Motion started by Richard Burgon MP calling on the government to immediately publish the legal advice it has received.
Palestinians carry the body of a woman found under the rubble of a destroyed building following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza Strip, March 27, 2024
‘It is utterly unconscionable for arms sales to continue’ when Israel has plausibly breached the Genocide Convention, a letter coordinated by Zarah Sultana MP tells the government
MORE than 100 MPs demanded the government halt all arms sales to Israel today because of its genocidal assault on Gaza.
The 108 MPs backed the call in a letter co-ordinated by Coventry South MP Zarah Sultana, which was also signed by 27 members of the House of Lords.
It comes as pressure mounts on the British government to give effect to the United Nations security council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza passed earlier this week.
Israel has rejected the resolution and continues its assault. MPs expressed concerns earlier this week that continuing to arm Israel would make Britain complicit in war crimes and other breaches of international law.
Signatories include ex-Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, former Labour Middle East minister Lord Peter Hain, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn and former Labour shadow minister Jess Phillips, who resigned from the front-bench in November over the party’s refusal to back a Gaza ceasefire.
Ms Sultana said that “when Israel is ‘plausibly’ in breach of the Genocide Convention and flagrantly violates international law on a daily basis, it is utterly unconscionable for arms sales to Israel to continue.
“But the UK government is refusing to act, making it complicit in this atrocity.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller speaks to reporters during a press briefing on March 25, 2024. (Photo: Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
One expert accused the U.S. of working to “undermine and sabotage the U.N. Security Council, the ‘rules-based order,’ and international law.”
Biden administration officials attempted Monday to downplay the significance of a newly passed United Nations Security Council resolution, drawing ire from human rights advocates who said the U.S. is undercutting international law and stonewalling attempts to bring Israel’s devastating military assault on Gaza to an end.
The resolution “demands an immediate cease-fire for the month of Ramadan respected by all parties, leading to a lasting sustainable cease-fire.” The U.S., which previously vetoed several cease-fire resolutions, opted to abstain on Monday, allowing the measure to pass.
Shortly after the resolution’s approval, several administration officials—including State Department spokesman Matthew Miller, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, and U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield—falsely characterized the measure as “nonbinding.”
“It’s a nonbinding resolution,” Kirby told reporters. “So, there’s no impact at all on Israel and Israel’s ability to continue to go after Hamas.”
Watch Matt Lee ask StateSpox about the passing of the UN ceasefire resolution. Basically the US position is it makes no difference and Miller calls 🇷🇺/🇨🇳 veto cynical.
Lee: Do you expect Israel is going to announce a ceasefire?
Josh Ruebner, an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown University and former policy director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, wrote in response that “there is no such thing as a ‘nonbinding’ Security Council resolution.”
“Israel’s failure to abide by this resolution must open the door to the immediate imposition of Chapter VII sanctions,” Ruebner wrote.
Beatrice Fihn, the director of Lex International and former executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, condemned what she called the Biden administration’s “appalling behavior” in the wake of the resolution’s passage. Fihn said the administration’s downplaying of the resolution shows how the U.S. works to “openly undermine and sabotage the U.N. Security Council, the ‘rules-based order,’ and international law.”
In a Monday op-ed for Common Dreams, Phyllis Bennis, a senior fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, warned that administration officials’ claim that the resolution was “nonbinding” should be seen as “setting the stage for the U.S. government to violate the U.N. Charter by refusing to be bound by the resolution’s terms.”
While all U.N. Security Council resolutions are legally binding, they’re difficult to enforce and regularly ignored by the Israeli government, which responded with outrage to the latest resolution and canceled an Israeli delegation’s planned visit to the U.S.
Israel Katz, Israel’s foreign minister, wrote on social media Monday that “Israel will not cease fire.”
The resolution passed amid growing global alarm over the humanitarian crisis that Israel has inflicted on the Gaza Strip, where most of the population of around 2.2 million is displaced and at increasingly dire risk of starvation.
Amnesty International secretary-general Agnes Callamard said Monday that it was “just plain irresponsible” of U.S. officials to “suggest that a resolution meant to save lives and address massive devastation and suffering can be disregarded.”
In addition to demanding an immediate cease-fire, the Security Council resolution calls for the unconditional release of all remaining hostages and “emphasizes the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian assistance.”
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, stressed during a briefing Monday that “all the resolutions of the Security Council are international law.”
“They are as binding as international laws,” Haq said.
