“Britain has played a highly influential role in Israel’s military operations, including the sale of weapons, the supply of intelligence & the use of Royal Air Force bases in Cyprus.”
By Matt Willgress, Labour Outlook
As reported by Sky and others, last week Jeremy Corbyn made the call for a Chilcot-style inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Gaza a letter to the Prime Minister (read the letter in full here) in which he said that “Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of democracy” and “therefore, I will be working with colleagues in pursuing all avenues to establish an independent, public inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israel’s military assault in Gaza.”
Now, in a letter to the Guardian, this call has been backed by Labour MPs Richard Burgon, Brian Leishman and Diane Abbott, Independent MP Zarah Sultana (who currently has the Labour whip removed), the SNP’s spokesperson for the Middle East Brendan O’Hara, and Green MP Carla Denyer. This demand is also supported by the four other members of the Independent Alliance of MPs in addition to Jeremy Corbyn. Whilst the Guardian limits the number of signatories to such letters to around half a dozen, the organisers of the initiative will now be reaching out more widely to show the full range and scale of support there is for the demand.
Calling for “the full co-operation from government ministers involved in decision-making processes since October 2023”, the cross-party group of MPs say this inquiry needs to “establish exactly what decisions have been taken, how these decisions have been made, and what consequences they have had.”
The letter and signatories read as follows:
“In the aftermath of the Iraq war, several attempts were made to establish an inquiry surrounding the conduct of British military operations. Published in 2016, the Chilcot inquiry found serious failings in the British government, which ignored the warnings of millions of ordinary people over its disastrous decision to go to war.
History is repeating itself. Today, the death toll in Gaza has reportedly exceeded 61,000. Two Israeli officials are wanted by the international criminal court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Britain has played a highly influential role in Israel’s military operations, including the sale of weapons, the supply of intelligence and the use of Royal Air Force bases in Cyprus.
Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of democracy. Therefore we are demanding an independent, public inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israel’s military assault in Gaza. This inquiry should establish exactly what decisions have been taken, how they have been made and what consequences they have had. Any meaningful inquiry would require the full cooperation of ministers involved in decision-making processes since October 2023.
Many people believe that the government has taken decisions that have implicated officials in the gravest breaches of international law. These charges will not go away until there is an inquiry with the legal power to establish the truth.”
Signed: Jeremy Corbyn Independent Alliance // Brendan O’Hara, Middle East spokesperson, Scottish National party // Carla Denyer Co-leader, Green Party // Brian Leishman, Labour // Diane Abbott, Labour // Zarah Sultana Independent // Richard Burgon Labour.
- Read Jeremy Corbyn’s letter to Keir Starmer here.
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