Hi John,
The image of Shaban al-Dalou, a young man killed by an Israeli attack on a hospital in Gaza this week, has shocked the world. Shaban, attached to an IV drip, his arm reaching for help, was burned alive along with his mother, after Israeli forces bombed the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital complex.(1)
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After a year of atrocities, I had thought it was impossible to still be shocked by the images coming out of Gaza. But Israel’s attacks on Gaza appear have reached even more horrific levels. Its military has effectively cut off huge parts of Gaza from food, water and medicines, then issued illegal orders for civilians in northern Gaza to leave their homes, all while continuing its bombing campaign in designated humanitarian areas.(2)
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Yet amid this unspeakable horror, the UK government continues its complicity in Israel’s aggression. I say this because although ministers continue issuing statements asking Israel to respect international law, the fact is that the UK is still providing Israel with arms and failing to enact any serious measures that might deter Israel’s violence.(3)
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Many of you have already written to government minsters to demand a full arms embargo and a suspension of the UK’s trade deal with Israel. Now we need MPs across parliament to ramp up the pressure on Keir Starmer’s government to do more.
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Will you write to your MP and urge them to demand a full arms embargo and trade sanctions against Israel?
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In parliament on Wednesday, Labour minister Anneliese Dodds refused to engage with demands from MPs to prevent UK-manufactured components for F-35 fighter jets from reaching Israel.(4) These are the aircraft described by their manufacturer as the “deadliest in the world” and which have been used in some of the largest massacres in Gaza.(5) They are still exempted from the UK’s suspension of arms licences to Israel.
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The government will also be acutely aware that the trade deal it signed with Israel is explicitly based on respect for human rights.(6) Yet the UK continues to maintain cosy trade ties with Israel, acting as if ‘business-as-usual’ with Israel is an option against the backdrop of utter devastation in Gaza and now Lebanon.
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In the words of Conservative MP Kit Malthouse this week, the government’s “hand-wringing” over Israel’s actions must end – and it must take more active steps to enforce international law and bring about a ceasefire.(7)
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The UK’s diplomatic efforts have clearly failed. And each day it avoids real action, it condemns the people of Gaza to more death and destruction. Whether the government’s approach to Israel is based on weakness or will, we must force it to change.
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Thank you
Tim Bierley
Campaigner, Global Justice Now
Notes
- Shaban al-Dalou: The Palestinian teen burned to death in Israeli bombing, Al Jazeera, 15 October 2024
- Northern Gaza must not be cut off from the south: UK statement at the UN Security Council, UK Government, 16 October 2024; and UN says critical aid routes into northern Gaza cut off as IDF renews offensive, Times of Israel, 13 October 2024
- War on Gaza: UK has 'no legal justification' to continue licensing parts for Israeli F-35s, 37 MPs say, Middle East Eye, 13 September 2024
- Gaza and Lebanon, Volume 754: debated on Tuesday 15 October 2024, Hansard, 15 October 2024
- Partly UK-made jet used in Israeli attack that killed Gaza civilians, the National, 2 September 2024
- UK-Israel Free Trade Agreement – responding to human rights concerns in keeping with UK’s obligations and policies, Amnesty International, May 2022
- Gaza and Lebanon, Volume 754: debated on Tuesday 15 October 2024, Hansard, 15 October 2024
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