Hi John,
After nearly a year of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, with more than 42,000 Palestinians killed and families torn apart, we are now watching the latest escalations in the Middle East with horror and dread.(1)
I also feel huge shame and anger because the UK has played a significant part in this. The situation, worsening by the day, is a direct result of Western leaders’ failure to put genuine pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu to end his aggression, even as Israel has trashed international law and brought about unprecedented death and destruction.(2)
Rather than condemning each new escalation by Israel in Gaza – from the first attacks on civilian infrastructure, to the invasion of Rafah, and the deliberate blocking of aid – the UK has continued to provide military support and diplomatic cover for its campaign of collective punishment.(3) The belated partial arms embargo the new government has imposed is very far from enough.
This week Israel has extended its attacks to Lebanon with a bombing campaign that has blitzed entire apartment blocks in densely populated parts of Beirut, and launched an illegal ground invasion of the country. More than 1 million people have already been displaced.(4)
No matter Israel’s stated justifications, its actions are in clear violation of international law. Killing 11,000 children in a year in Gaza has not been self-defence.(5)
Now more than ever we must demand the UK government stands up for peace and justice in this crisis – and that means there can be no more empty words about ceasefires while arms and other support for Israel continues to flow.
I’m writing to you to please take urgent action to demand the UK ends its complicity in Israel’s attacks and pulls on every lever available to stop the violence.
- Join the National March for Palestine in London tomorrow, assembling at 12 noon at Russell Square, and marching to Whitehall. Full details here: https://palestinecampaign.org/events/national-demo-for-palestine-5-october-2024/
- Write to your MP demanding a full arms embargo, an end to trade talks, and economic sanctions on Israel to prevent further escalation. You can write to your MP in your own words here: www.writetothem.com
- If you haven’t already, sign our calls on the UK government to impose a full arms embargo and suspend trade talks with Israel:
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Double standards
Tuesday’s retaliatory missile attack by Iran was also deeply concerning, not least because of the further escalation it is likely to provoke. But the Western reaction has also revealed the astonishing double standards at work.
After months of mealy-mouthed words about the need for a ceasefire, Keir Starmer found the words of condemnation he has never managed over Israel’s actions in Gaza.(6)
Yet as Oxfam revealed this week, Israel has killed more women and children in the past year than have been killed in any conflict in the past two decades.(7)
Even as the prime minister and foreign secretary call for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon, the UK is still providing Israel with parts for its F-35 fighter jets and planning a new trade deal with the country as if it’s just ‘business as usual’.(8) The hypocrisy is off the charts.
The UK should be using every tool at its disposal to try and stop Israel acting with impunity. That means enforcing a full arms embargo, imposing immediate economic sanctions and halting its plans to deepen trade ties.
Israel must be pressured to end its aggression in Gaza and withdraw from Lebanon. It is also clear that security for all people in the region will only come when there is justice and an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land and an irreversible pathway to self-determination for the Palestinian people.
This weekend people from across the country will mobilise to demand the UK government ends its complicity in Israel’s actions.
I hope you can join us in whatever way you are able.
Thanks for everything you are doing,
Tim Bierley
Campaigner at Global Justice Now
Notes
1. Israel-Gaza war in maps and charts: Live tracker, Al Jazeera, 3 October 2024
2. Daily death rate in Gaza higher than any other major 21st Century conflict, Oxfam, 11 January 2024; Israel, Hamas accused of war crimes in new UN report, BBC, 12 June 2024
3. Incoherence over arms exports to Israel leaves UK on shaky middle ground, Guardian, 3 September 2024; Israel Deliberately Blocked Humanitarian Aid to Gaza, Two Government Bodies Concluded. Antony Blinken Rejected Them, ProPublica, 24 September 2024; Israeli strikes on Gaza may have violated laws of war - UN report, BBC, 19 June 2024
4. Israel has invaded Lebanon. Here’s what could come next. Vox, 2 October 2024; Israeli Strikes Destroyed 4 Large Apartment Buildings in Beirut Videos Show, New York Times, 27 September 2024
5. Oxfam says more women, children killed by Israel in Gaza than in any other conflict in two decades, Middle East Monitor, 2 October 2024
6. Starmer says UK 'stands with Israel' and he is 'deeply concerned' Middle East is 'on the brink', Sky News, 2 October 2024
7. Oxfam says more women, children killed by Israel in Gaza than in any other conflict in two decades, Middle East Monitor, 2 October 2024
8. Incoherence over arms exports to Israel leaves UK on shaky middle ground, Guardian, 3 September 2024; Israel still wants UK trade deal despite rage over arms ban, Politico, 26 September 2024
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