As Palestinians in Gaza face perhaps the cruellest, most horrific days of this genocide, the UK government’s response has once again been utterly contemptible. Yesterday, foreign secretary David Lammy brought MPs to the chamber to announce little more than some further stern words for Israel and a smattering of aid for Palestinians. His office had earlier announced that, alongside 31 other countries, it was “prepared to take further action” to achieve a ceasefire.
Yet we know that the government’s apparent concern for Palestinians is hollow, duplicitous. The UK continues to arm Israel, continues to trade with it as normal, and continues to call this genocidal state an ‘ally’. This was a cynical attempt to give the impression of action. No more. (1)
In the meantime, Israeli soldiers have continued to fire on hungry Palestinians queueing for food, killing hundreds of people since the end of May. These are not sporadic attacks, nor could they possibly be accidental. They are consistent. The fire is heavy. (2)
We’ve recorded this video message for the government today, explaining how the government’s response so far leaves it deeply complicit in Israel’s genocide. We must continue to organise and build pressure for a full arms embargo and immediate sanctions on Israel’s economy. Can you help us share the video and keep pressure on the government?
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A British doctor working in Gaza has suggested that IDF soldiers are deliberately shooting Palestinian children in different body parts depending on the day of the week. One day he sees a spike in abdominal wounds, the next neck wounds, another day head wounds. Interviewed on the BBC, he said “it’s almost as if a game is being played”. (3)
Israel last week confirmed that it is moving ahead with plans to forcibly displace the entire population of Gaza into the southern tip of the territory – and trap them there unless they migrate out of Palestine. These moves to depopulate Gaza are the clearest of war crimes. One former Israeli prime minister has likened Israel’s plan to building a “concentration camp”. If the UK isn’t taking action now, when will it? (4)
There are days, weeks even, when it is understandable that we get numbed by this horror. But then there are moments when the sheer depravity of this hits you in the gut. I cannot put into words how furious I am, how distraught I am by all this. We all are. But we cannot, we must not, let them get away with this.
It doesn’t feel like enough, nothing does, but – if you haven't already – I hope you will join me in writing to the government to make sure they know fully how we see them. To make clear what we have demanded of them. What we will continue to demand. We must keep the pressure on our government for a full arms embargo and immediate sanctions on Israel’s economy. And we must all find ways to do more, whatever we can.
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It’s clear that our leaders want us to just accept what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank – for us to feel powerless and resigned, somehow, to the crushing of a people; to the genocide that our government is supporting with UK-made arms. We cannot let that happen.
We all get our energy from different places, and it can take time, or come unexpectedly. But we must continue to look for it, to feel the horror of what is happening, and let it drive us. Don’t become numb. Keep going.
Thank you,
Tim Bierley
Palestine Campaigner, Global Justice Now
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Notes
1. Breaking the UK’s complicity in Israel’s genocide, Red Pepper, 27 June 2025; Answers to Questions, Parallel parliament, 14 January 2025
2. Nearly 800 killed at Gaza food hubs and aid convoy routes since end of May, UN says, the Guardian, 11 June 2025
3. IDF soldiers deliberately wounding children in Gaza ‘like a game’, says British doctor, the Independent, 19 July 2025
4. ‘Humanitarian city’ would be concentration camp for Palestinians, says former Israeli PM, the Guardian, 13 July 2025
5. Israel ramps up settlement and annexation in West Bank with dire human rights consequences, UN Officer of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 11 March 2025
6. NGOs call for government to meet its international obligations – one year after ICJ’s landmark ruling on Israel’s unlawful occupation, Global Justice Now, 18 July 2025
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