“The genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing must end. Those responsible must be held to account.”
By Imran Hussain MP
The Government’s announcement of a ban on imports from illegal Israeli settlements is an important and welcome step.
The new powers to target those who support, facilitate or profit from settlement activity matter. So does the Government’s conclusion, in line with the International Court of Justice’s substantial ruling, that Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine is unlawful.
The Foreign Secretary has described this as a complete reset in Britain’s relationship with Israel. That is important. But any reset must mean more than a change in language. It must be firmly rooted in international law, take full account of the ICJ’s findings and bring serious consequences for those who flagrantly breach those laws.
Otherwise, what does the reset amount to – and what does Britain stand for?
Many of us have called for these measures for years. We have stood in debate after debate raising the same issues, only to be told repeatedly that Ministers were reviewing what action to take or considering the ICJ’s advisory opinion.
While those debates and deliberations continued, Palestinians did not have the luxury of waiting.
It has taken a change of Government to reach this point. On the genocide in Gaza, war crimes across Palestine and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian communities, the previous Government should have acted. It failed to stand against injustice, failed to stand for human rights and failed to uphold the international rules-based order.
We should also pay tribute to the millions of people who marched peacefully through our streets when those in power got it so badly wrong. They demanded that international law be applied and that Palestinian lives be treated with equal value. They were completely right.
The question now is not simply whether the Government is travelling in the right direction, but whether it is prepared to follow international law to its necessary conclusion.
The announcement of a double lock on arms licences is welcome, but Parliament still requires clarity over whether it applies to existing licences. The Government must go further by ending all remaining arms sales to Israel and closing the F-35 loophole.
No equipment of UK origin should directly or indirectly support genocide in Gaza or war crimes anywhere in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The scale of death and suffering caused by the right-wing Netanyahu Government’s genocide in Gaza demands immediate action. More than 70,000 Palestinians have been killed in recent years, including over 21,000 children. That horror should shame the entire international community.
The blockade, denial of aid, destruction of civilian infrastructure and forced confinement of Palestinians while Israel illegally occupies most of their land have created the most serious humanitarian crisis. Children continue to be denied food, water and medicine, while families are pushed into impossible conditions.
If we are serious about international law, we must press for the full and immediate lifting of the blockade, unimpeded humanitarian access and protection for the mandate, staff, premises and operations of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Aid funding is welcome, but it cannot substitute for the political action required to stop the war crimes and conditions of genocide that make such aid necessary.
The Government is also right to confront the violence of settler terrorists in the West Bank. Palestinian communities understand what that violence is designed to achieve: to frighten them, isolate them and drive them from their homes.
The powers announced by the Government must now be used. Sanctions must target not only individual settler terrorists but the whole settlement enterprise: those who finance it, profit from it, construct it, advertise it and politically sustain it.
The Foreign Secretary was also right to say that Britain will stand with the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. It is disgraceful that judges serving those institutions have faced pressure and sanctions.
An international rules-based order counts for nothing if we abandon the institutions responsible for upholding it whenever their findings become inconvenient. We cannot cite the ICJ’s advisory opinion when it supports an announcement, but then fail to act on the full implications of its conclusions. Nor can we claim to stand with international courts while remaining silent when their judges are threatened.
The authority of international law depends upon its consistent application. If we are unwilling to uphold it in the face of genocide, war crimes, unlawful occupation and ethnic cleansing, then we must ask what our commitment to a rules-based order actually means.
The Government’s announcements are an important first step, but they must be the beginning of sustained action- not its conclusion.
The genocide, war crimes and ethnic cleansing must end. Those responsible must be held to account. Parliament and the Government have a moral, ethical and legal duty not to stop until that happens.
If we do not stand for international law at a moment such as this, what do we stand for?
- Imran Hussain is the MP for Bradford East, you can follow him on Facebook and X.
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- EVENT: Justice for Palestine: Defend International Law, Sanctions Now! Saturday September 26, Liverpool, 3.30pm. Imran Hussain MP / Richard Burgon MP / Jess Barnard (Labour NEC) / Marwan Yaghi (Palestinian Embassy) & more. Register here.
