One hundred thousand expected to march in call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to UK arms sales to Israel
- Hundreds of lawyers and politicians have warned that UK risks being complicit in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza
- Alicia Kearns, Chair of Foreign Affairs Select Committee, has revealed that Foreign Office has received legal advice that Israel is in breach of international law
- Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain and Belgium have all announced they would stop shipping weapons to Israel.
- Despite this Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said the UK will continue arms sales
On Saturday April 13th tens of thousands of people are expected to demonstrate in London calling on the UK government to halt arms sales to Israel. The march will take place as part of a nationwide day of action which will see protests in towns and cities across the UK.
More than 34 000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in six months, most of the civil infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed and the UN has issued stark warnings that famine is imminent for the population of 2 million people. It is in this context that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded there was plausible evidence that Israel is conducting a genocide.
The Genocide Convention establishes on State Parties the obligation to take measures to prevent the crime of genocide and this has led to growing demands that the UK halt arms sales to Israel. These took on even more urgency after Israel killed 7 aid workers, 3 of them British, in Gaza last week, with claims that the weapons used could contain British components.
The government’s own arms export guidelines state it “will not grant a licence if it determines there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”. Alicia Kearns MP, chair of the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee, was recorded at an event saying: “The Foreign Office has received official legal advice that Israel has broken international humanitarian law, but the government has not announced it.”
More than 1000 lawyers, academics and retired judges, including the former President of the Supreme Court Baroness Hale, have signed an open letter saying that the continued supply of arms to Israel puts the UK in breach of international law. Two weeks ago a cross party group of 135 Parliamentarians wrote to the Foreign Secretary and Business Secretary, saying the case for a suspension of arms export licenses to Israel is “overwhelming.”
A petition launched by PSC has gathered over 50k signatures in less than 10 days.
Ben Jamal, PSC Director, said :
“It is unconscionable that the UK Government continues to supply Israel with weapons, even as Israel stands charged at the world’s highest court with the crime of genocide, and even as the FCDO’s own lawyers have reportedly informed it that Israel is in breach of international humanitarian law. Pressure is building across the political mainstream for the Government to end its complicity in genocide and once again, hundreds of thousands will be protesting on the streets of towns and cities across the UK in support of that demand. This slaughter must stop.”