Tag Archives: israel

Jonathan Brown

Sanctions against Israeli settlers welcome – but inadequate

By Jonathan Brown | Fri 12th June 2026 - 8:55 am

This week, alongside partners Canada, France and Norway, the UK government announced expanded sanctions against 6 entities and one individual enabling settler violence in the occupied West Bank. The government has also strengthened its business risk guidance to make clear that British citizens and businesses should not conduct any economic or financial activities in Israel’s illegal settlements.

As noted by Liberal Democrat Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Calum Miller in Parliament on Tuesday, the new measures – though welcome – are extremely overdue, with the Dutch Government having issued a similar discouragement notice 20 years ago. Moreover, the notice remains purely advisory and carries no penalty for non-compliance, falling woefully short of a comprehensive ban on all trade with Israeli settlements.

The limitations of that approach are obvious. This weekend, the “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” is due to take place in London, an international roadshow that openly advertises the sale of land in West Bank settlements. If ministers genuinely believe British citizens and businesses should not engage in settlement-related activity, then allowing stolen Palestinian land to be marketed in our capital just days after issuing new guidance against settlement trade makes a mockery of that position.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 31st May 2026 - 9:30 am

Cuba

A $100 million would go a long way to alleviate the humanitarian crisis caused by the US blockade of Cuba.

The island’s communist government has already made big concessions on the economic front in an attempt to appease the Trump Administration.

It has legalised small and medium-sized private businesses; abolished Cuba’s dual currency; opened more than 2,000 additional occupations to private initiative and allowed exiled Cubans to invest in the island’s economy.

On the political front they have been less forthcoming. Only a handful of political prisoners have been released and there is no sign of the regime introducing freedom of expression or a reform of its judicial system.

There is also the additional problem of who distributes the aid should it be released. Havana says it will handle the distribution through established government channels. Washington says those channels are corrupt and the money must be distributed by the Catholic church.

Finally, there is the question of whether the $100 million carrot is a mere ruse. That the Trump Administration will settle for nothing less than complete regime change; the dismantlement of Cuba’s socialist state and the return to pre-1959 style American domination of the Caribbean island.

To achieve that, Washington may just have to invade the island. They increasingly appear prepared to do just that. The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz has been parked in the Caribbean. The Cuban president, 94-year-old Raul Castro, has been indicted for murder.

And finally, Cuban-American Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the military option is more likely than the diplomatic.

Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu has proven himself a tough man. Since the October 7 attacks he has launched wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran, to say nothing of the continuing turmoil in the West Bank. Few Israeli leaders have confronted so many enemies on so many fronts.

But toughness alone will not win the forthcoming election. Opinion polls show his approval ratings at between 40 and 47 percent and Likud is trailing a coalition opposition. If Netanyahu is to survive politically, he must prove not only that he can start wars, but that he can end them—and win them.

In Gaza Hamas has been badly damaged but not destroyed. This week the government ordered the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to increase their occupation from 64 percent of the territory to 70 percent. Yet despite repeated declarations of imminent victory from both Jerusalem and Washington, there remains no clear political settlement and no obvious answer to the question of what happens to Gaza when the fighting finally ends.

The ceasefire in Lebanon is meant to be an integral element in the ceasefire in the Iran War. Yet Israel continues to fire missiles into Lebanon and has moved ground forces into the southern part of the country to create a security zone. Netanyahu says he sees no reason to “take his foot off the pedal.” For many Israelis, a security zone may look like a military necessity. For others, it looks suspiciously like another open-ended commitment.

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Leon Duveen

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself

By Leon Duveen | Tue 24th March 2026 - 11:41 am

At his first inauguration as US President, back in 1933, Franklin Roosevelt famously said “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”.

Over 90 years later, that phrase could be applied to the Palestine/Israel conflict or, more precisely, to Palestinians and Israeli Jews. The biggest driver in preventing a solution is that Palestinians fear Israelis and Israelis fear Palestinians.

Of course, many individual Palestinians and Israelis have friends, good friends, on the “other” side but there are also many more who do not have any contact across the divide except through the ongoing violence as participants, as victims, or simply as observers.

It is this lack of knowledge about the lives, the desires, the pain of those who live close by but in a different world that has allowed cynical politicians on both sides to exploit the natural fear most of us have of those who we don’t know. Especially when there has been a long, bloody history of attacks and atrocities by both sides for over 100 years.

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Gavin Stollar

Rape cannot depend on politics – a liberal lesson from 7th October

By Gavin Stollar | Sat 21st March 2026 - 8:51 am

Liberal Democrats believe in universal human rights. The response to evidence of sexual violence on 7th October should be straightforward. Yet too often, when the victims are Israelis, the instinct to “believe survivors” suddenly becomes contested.

If rape is used as a weapon of war, liberals should have no difficulty condemning it. That should be true whether the victims are in Bosnia, Ukraine, the Democratic Republic of Congo – or Israel. And yet, in the aftermath of the 7th October attacks, a disturbing double standard has appeared in parts of Western political debate. Evidence that women were sexually assaulted during the massacre has not been met everywhere with solidarity or outrage, but with hesitation, scepticism and, in some cases, outright denial. For those of us who believe in universal human rights, that should be deeply troubling. If recognition of sexual violence depends on the politics of the conflict, the principle itself is hollow.

The attacks carried out by Hamas that day were among the worst terrorist atrocities in modern history. Around 1,200 people were murdered, and hundreds more taken hostage. Alongside the killings, evidence quickly emerged that sexual violence – including rape – had taken place during the assault. Investigators, journalists, first responders and eventually international bodies reported signs that women had been sexually assaulted during the attacks and while in captivity. And this week, the 7th October Parliamentary Commission publishes its second report into the atrocities committed that day. Its work matters because documentation and evidence are the foundation of accountability. Without them, atrocities risk being lost in political argument and misinformation.

For decades, progressives rightly pushed for a cultural shift in how societies respond to allegations of sexual violence. Survivors were too often dismissed, interrogated or disbelieved. Feminist activism taught that survivors should not be met first with scepticism, but with seriousness and compassion. Yet when Israeli women are among the victims, the standards of belief suddenly appear to change. Some who would normally insist on listening now demand levels of proof rarely available after mass atrocities. Where are the police reports, they ask. Where is the forensic evidence? Where are the witnesses willing to testify publicly? Anyone familiar with conflict-related sexual violence knows why those questions are so difficult to answer. Many victims were murdered. Crime scenes were not preserved because emergency workers were focused on saving lives and recovering bodies. Families understandably wish to protect dignity and privacy. These challenges are tragically common in wartime atrocities and precisely why international law has evolved to investigate and prosecute sexual violence in conflict through tribunals and the International Criminal Court. To treat them as evidence that crimes did not occur risks undermining that entire system.

Our Party is committed to liberal internationalism, so the response should be simple. Sexual violence in conflict is a grave violation of humanitarian law. It must be investigated wherever it occurs and whoever commits it. If we demand accountability in some conflicts but dismiss allegations in others because they complicate politics, we erode the credibility of the entire human rights system. The rule of law cannot function on selective outrage. Nor can feminist foreign policy succeed if empathy depends on the identity of the victim. Recognising sexual violence as a weapon of war and supporting survivors wherever it appears is not optional. Anything less is partisanship, not feminism.

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Gavin Stollar

Peace requires truth, not rhetoric

By Gavin Stollar | Sun 22nd February 2026 - 1:30 pm

As Liberal Democrats, we pride ourselves on internationalism grounded in law, evidence and moral seriousness. That is precisely why the increasingly casual use of the word “genocide” in debates about Israel and Gaza should concern us.

The 2024 provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice did not determine that Israel has committed genocide. The Court found that there was a plausible risk requiring provisional steps to prevent escalation. That is not the same as a finding of genocidal intent – the specific legal threshold required under the Genocide Convention. No final judgment has been delivered.

To present provisional measures as proof of genocide is legally inaccurate and politically inflammatory. If we are a party that believes in international law, we must represent its rulings faithfully — not selectively.

None of this means Palestinian suffering is not real. It is devastating. Civilian casualties in Gaza have been tragic. Settlement expansion in the West Bank remains wrong and corrosive to the prospects of a viable Palestinian state. Rhetoric from Israeli ministers such as Bezalel Smotrich rejecting Palestinian statehood is damaging both morally and strategically.

But outrage cannot substitute for analysis.

The war did not begin in a vacuum. It followed the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust – an attack by Hamas that deliberately targeted civilians and sought to provoke exactly the kind of regional conflagration we are now witnessing. All hostages have now returned, many tragically murdered, but that does not erase the crime or Israel’s legitimate security concerns.

A sustainable two-state solution requires an Israel that is secure from armed groups committed to its destruction. That principle cannot be abandoned simply because it complicates the narrative.

Nor can we ignore Palestinian political failure.

The Palestinian Authority, dominated by Fatah, has for years been crippled by corruption, patronage networks and absolute democratic decay. President Mahmoud Abbas is now in the twentieth year of what was meant to be a four-year term. Elections have been repeatedly postponed. Dissent is suppressed. Critics and journalists have been harassed or detained. Security coordination is often designed less to build accountable governance and more to maintain elite control.

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John Kelly

Palestine and Israel: high time the UK stopped standing by

By John Kelly | Wed 18th February 2026 - 1:45 pm

Liberal Democrats along with the SNP, the Green Party and several Independent MPs have recognised that Israel has committed genocide as defined by the Genocide Convention. So far so good.  

The bad news is that the failure to act by the British and other governments frankly amounts to complicity in war crimes. The UK Government still hasn’t announced how it plans to follow up the 2024 ICJ judgements which warned of the plausible risk of genocide, confirmed that Israeli settlements are illegal and stated that other countries should not have any dealings with those settlements.  

The Trump ‘Peace Plan’ has done nothing to end the occupation, and the Board of Peace includes indicted war criminals Netanyahu and Putin, with not a single Palestinian. (Nor a single woman!). As Kaja Kallas, the EU Foreign Affairs chief, said at the Munich Security Conference last weekend, the Board’s Charter doesn’t even mention Gaza or Palestine and risks undermining the United Nations.

It is 78 years since Israel was created and forcibly displaced over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, systematically murdering many on the way. 78 long years that Palestinians have lived under occupation, displacement, and collective punishment.

In the past 29 months, 72,045 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza by Israeli arms. This official toll, which the Israeli military has now endorsed, only includes confirmed direct deaths from bombings and shootings, where bodies have been found. It does not account for indirect deaths, from disease or starvation, for example, or for bodies still under the rubble. Over 500 Gazans have been killed since the so-called ceasefire – many for straying close to the Yellow Line to which Israeli troops have withdrawn but keep arbitrarily moving. 

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Jack Meredith

Why liberal internationalism must reject camp politics

By Jack Meredith | Tue 6th January 2026 - 11:05 am

Liberal internationalism is under pressure from two directions. On one side sits an authoritarian right that treats power as its own justification. On the other side sits a left that increasingly defines foreign policy by opposing the West rather than by supporting democracy, human rights, and self-determination.

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Gavin Stollar

Lib Dem Friends of Israel respond to Andrew George MP

By Gavin Stollar | Sun 28th December 2025 - 8:55 am

Andrew George MP frames his recent article on Lib Dem Voice (“Israel/Palestine: Complicity”) around laudable principles—respect for law, opposition to hatred, and concern for civilian life. However, those principles are undermined when language departs from legal definitions, evidence is selectively presented, and allegations of the gravest crimes in international law are asserted as settled fact when they are not.

This matters not only for accuracy, but because such rhetoric risks feeding narratives that blur into antisemitism under the guise of moral critique.

The most serious flaw in the article is the repeated assertion that Israel is committing “genocide.” Genocide is not a descriptive adjective; it is a specific crime defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention, requiring proof of intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group as such. As of today, no international court has ruled that Israel is committing genocide.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), often misrepresented in public debate, has not found Israel guilty of genocide. In its provisional measures rulings, the ICJ explicitly stated that it was not making a determination on the merits of the genocide claim. Provisional measures are procedural safeguards, not verdicts.

To describe Israel as having been “recognised” as committing genocide is therefore factually incorrect and legally false. Misusing the term genocide not only cheapens a grave legal concept but also contributes to the collective demonisation of the world’s only Jewish state—a pattern that, historically, has had direct consequences for Jewish communities far beyond the Middle East.

There is no question that Gaza has experienced an acute humanitarian crisis, including severe food insecurity. However, the claim that Israel is deliberately starving Gaza as a policy of war is not established fact. Independent monitoring mechanisms such as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported famine-level risks in parts of Gaza in early 2024. Yet subsequent assessments in 2025 concluded that famine conditions were not present across Gaza, largely due to increased aid flows following ceasefires and humanitarian corridors.

Severe hunger persists, but that is not the same as proof of an intentional starvation policy. Israel has facilitated hundreds of thousands of tonnes of humanitarian aid into Gaza via multiple crossings and coordination mechanisms, even while fighting an armed group that embeds itself within civilian infrastructure.

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Andrew George

Israel/Palestine:  Complicity 

By Andrew George | Sun 21st December 2025 - 8:48 am

Our campaigning for peace and reconciliation has always rested on respect for the rule of law, a determination to uncover the truth, and a refusal to tolerate ideologies that promote hatred, war and terrorism. The fragile ceasefire in Gaza must not distract us from prosecuting war crimes thoroughly or from accelerating progress toward a two-state solution.

I usually avoid conflating the Israel–Palestine conflict with broader issues around Islamophobia and antisemitism, but recent events compel me to speak plainly. In the wake of the appalling atrocity in Sydney, it is right to express solidarity with the victims and their families. Those who stand for peace must also stand with the Jewish community, oppose antisemitism, and confront the hate-filled ideologies that fuel terrorism.

Visiting Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories earlier this year made clear both the urgent need for peace and the fact that not everyone is working toward it. Eight weeks into the fragile Gaza ceasefire, international attention is already drawing a veil over war crimes as it focuses on peace, governance, and reconstruction. For the Netanyahu government and some western allies, talk of the future can become a rhetorical device to deflect scrutiny of past and ongoing atrocities and to avoid calls for justice.

In Parliament, ministers have used the ceasefire to present the UK as a key peacebuilder. Yet, as highlighted in Peter Oborne’s recent book, serious concerns remain about the extent of UK involvement in Israel’s policy of retribution, genocide and starvation of its people and consequent destruction of Gaza, including (but not only) through the supply of arms, intelligence, and other forms of military aid. 

In September 2024 the government partially suspended arms sales to Israel, revoking roughly 30 of 350 relevant licences. That limited action left significant loopholes, notably an exemption for exports to the global F-35 programme, despite evidence the jets have bombed civilians in Gaza.

Beyond the F-35 carve-out, UK military goods continued to flow to Israel in worrying quantities. Analysis by Channel 4 FactCheck shows that in June 2025 UK munitions worth about £400,000 entered Israel— the highest monthly figure since records began three years ago. Ministers note the data does not distinguish live munitions from training equipment, but why would we supply any military material to an army accused of genocide? Regardless, the UK and Israeli governments refuse to disclose the nature of the shipments, making proper scrutiny impossible. 

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Leon Duveen

From the River to the Sea . . .

By Leon Duveen | Thu 18th December 2025 - 10:14 am

This phrase, or variants of it, has a long history and invokes different meaning to different people. We all need to realise what we may mean by it is not what those who hear it understand by it.

The roots of this phrase or slogan seem to be in the time of the British Mandate rule in Palestine, and it comes from the Revisionist (i.e. right wing) Zionism movement led by Ze’ev Jabotinsky, the movement that also produced the Jewish Terrorist groups, Irgun and Lehi, and the ideology of what is now Likud led by Binyamin Netanyahu.  It was the dream of this branch of Zionism to have a Jewish State that reached from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, even beyond.

Later (the exact chronology is disputed) by the 1970’s, the phrase was adopted by the Palestinian Nationalist movement to call for a Palestinian State excluding Isreal and, by implication, most (if not all) Jews from that land.

In modern times the phrase is linked to the pro-Palestinian movement in the West with the second line of “Palestine will be free.”  While many who chant the slogan may not mean that this implies the eradication of Israel, many in Jews, both in Israel and those in the Diaspora, hear that implication in those words and fear that it will be accompanied by a mass eradication of Jews between the Mediterranean to the Jordan, just as when the original slogan was first coined, the Arabs who lived in Palestine feared a Jewish state would mean their expulsion or eradication.

Given this mixed history, it is no wonder that the phrase stirs different emotions in people depending on which side of the Palestine/Israel conflict they are. However, if we want to help both Palestinians & Israelis address the issues that divide them, help the find a way to allow both to live in peace, share that land they both love and call their homeland and allow the children of both grow up free from the threat of more wars & violence, we need to think before we repeat  this phrase either by itself or with a second line.

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Turning Recognition into Action: The Case for a UK Ban on Settlement Trade

By Maggs Mackechnie | Tue 11th November 2025 - 2:05 pm

One month after the Gaza ceasefire, and the prospect of a just and lasting resolution feels as distant as ever. In Gaza, Israel continues to dictate the terms of an increasingly fragile peace – obstructing humanitarian access, committing near-daily ceasefire violations, and showing little sign of any genuine commitment to withdrawal or reconstruction.  

But it is in the West Bank that Israel’s true intentions are most clearly revealed. While global attention has remained fixed on Gaza, Netanyahu’s government has quietly pressed ahead with the steady consolidation of its grip on the occupied territory. 

This year has already seen record levels of settler violence, carried out with the active support of the Israeli government and army. The weeks following the ceasefire have been no exception. In the past month alone, Israeli forces and settlers have carried out more than 2,300 attacks across the occupied West Bank, terrorising inhabitants and forcibly displacing Palestinians from their homes through demolitions, arbitrary arrests, physical assaults and the uprooting of over 1,000 olive trees.

Mere weeks after the ceasefire was announced, the Knesset advanced a bill to annex the West Bank, a move that would constitute a clear breach of international law. And just this week, the government issued tenders for 356 new settlement housing units in the territory. This follows its revival of the controversial E1 settlement plan, a project that would cut the West Bank in two –  a clear attempt to bury any remaining hopes for a two-state solution. 

These are not the actions of a government interested in peace, but of one intent on erasing, piece by piece, the separate identity of the Palestinian people and their culture and the very state that the UK and other western nations have finally recognised. 

It is futile to hope that Israel will change course on its own. Even Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s so-called ‘liberal’ opposition party, voted in favour of the recent annexation bill (though this is hardly surprising, given his party’s own record of deepening the settlement project while in power). 

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The Voice

Ed Davey’s statement on second anniversary of October 7 attacks

By The Voice | Tue 7th October 2025 - 7:46 pm

Ed Davey issued a statement today to mark the second anniversary of the 7th October attacks in Israel:

Two years ago, we watched in horror those appalling scenes of Hamas’s evil terrorist attack on Israel. 1,200 innocent people brutally slain, including hundreds of young people at a music festival. Others raped, sexually assaulted and mutilated. 251 people taken hostage, ripped away from their families.

Those terror attacks also triggered a shocking rise in antisemitism here in the UK – a terrible scourge that took the lives of Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz at their synagogue last week.

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Jonathan Gale

A view from a Jewish Lib Dem activist and Zionist

By Jonathan Gale | Sun 5th October 2025 - 4:18 pm

We are reeling from the terrible attack on Jews in Manchester on Yom Kippur. Shocking, but sadly not surprising. Perhaps now politicians should dial down the hyperbole around the Middle East. Words such as “apartheid” and “genocide” shed more heat than light, obscuring rather than clarifying a conflict that demands honesty. The attack brought home the real meaning of “Globalise the Intifada”.

Israel’s government is distinct from Zionism, which is distinct from Jews. Yet most of Britain’s 300,000 Jews feel connected to the world’s only Jewish state, home to half of global Jewry. That is why events in Israel reverberate deeply.

Criticism of Israel’s actions is legitimate, but the Centre-Left’s blanket condemnations weaken us, ceding ground to the Right. We should reflect before using rhetoric that delegitimises the only democracy in the region

Israelis remain traumatised by the October 7th massacre, the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, and the continued plight of 48 hostages/families. Acknowledgement of that trauma here often fades next to Gazan suffering, portrayed without context. The imbalance encourages anger which is too easily channelled into demonisation of Israel itself.

At the LDFI stand at Party Conference, we faced a difficult environment. We oppose Netanyahu’s coalition and condemn the toll of war on both Gazans and Israelis. But we reject the charge of “genocide” as inaccurate, inflammatory, and often antisemitic in intent. Engaging with it feels like the Brexit “£350m a week” trap: a slogan which shuts down debate.

Israel faces an information war. The use of the word “genocide” long predates October 7th 2023, and it is chosen to delegitimise Israel, not foster peace. Recognition of a Palestinian state without defined borders or democratic institutions does not advance a two-state solution; it seemed intended to punish Israel. Gaza after 2005 was already a de facto Palestinian state but its administration chose endless war, culminating in October 7th, rather than coexistence.

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Paul Walter

Building bridges for Middle East peace

By Paul Walter | Sun 21st September 2025 - 3:00 pm

-That was the title of a Bournemouth fringe meeting today. It was hosted by Liberal Democrats for Peace in Middle East. Their President, Leon Duveen, was on the panel with their Chair, Mohammed Amin.

The panel (above) featured Sharon Booth, who is the Chief Executive and founder of Solutions Not Sides. SNS “is an education programme that exists to provide humanising encounters, diverse narratives and critical-thinking tools in order to empower young people with the knowledge, empathy and skills to promote dialogue and conflict resolution, and to challenge prejudice in the UK.”

Also on the panel were two peace activists who SNS use as mentors in their programme.
They included Hamze Awawde has been leading programmes that bring Israelis and Palestinians together for the last 12 years. He leads YaLa Young Leaders, which brings young people together to break down divisions and barriers.

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Judi Conner

Calling out the Gaza genocide

By Judi Conner | Thu 18th September 2025 - 10:13 am

Genocide. Genocide. Genocide.

For two years this word has been taboo as we’ve watched Israel carrying out its atrocities in Gaza. Most of us have avoided using it for fear of….what?  Yes, we’ve rightly considered ‘genocide’ a powerful, extreme word, largely associated with the horrors of the Holocaust and Rwanda: a word that mustn’t be used lightly, without proper investigation of the true facts. But let’s be honest. We’ve also been terrified to call out the blatant killing of civilians and ethnic cleansing in Gaza for what it is, because in all likelihood we’d be accused of antisemitism or supporting Hamas terrorism. 

But on Tuesday this week things changed. The United Nations’ Human Rights Council published a report by an Independent International Commission of Inquiry into Israel’s actions in Gaza. It concluded that “Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Commission of Inquiry urges Israel and all States to fulfil their legal obligations under international law to end the genocide and punish those responsible for it.” 

Suddenly ‘genocide’ in Gaza is no longer the subject of conjecture and hypothesis. it brings us back to facts, using international law and carefully-researched evidence as the yardstick.

More specifically, the Commission, which has been investigating the events on and since 7 October 2023 for the last two years, concludes that Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces committed four of the five genocidal acts defined by the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.”

“The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the genocide in Gaza,” said Navi Pillay, Chair of the Commission, who headed the tribunal into the Rwanda Genocide. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.” At the report’s announcement Judge Pillay also called the findings “a moral outrage and a legal emergency”.

Defending the Report against an intense backlash from Israel, Pillay and her colleagues have been quick to point out that, far from being pro-Hamas, the Commission took a strong stance against Hamas on 10th October 2023, denouncing Hamas atrocities against Israel as war crimes. They also stress that “explicit statements by Israeli civilian and military authorities and the pattern of conduct of the Israeli security forces indicate that the genocidal acts were committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as a group.” In other words, key evidence of Israel’s intentions of genocide has come from the blatant words and actions of Israel’s leadership itself.

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Jonathan Brown

Time to drop the pretence – Israel is no partner for peace

By Jonathan Brown | Thu 11th September 2025 - 11:56 am

The BBC ever so carefully described Israel’s bombing of (UK and US ally) Qatar on 9th September as simply a “strike on senior Hamas leaders” who just happened to be situated in Doha. They report that the government of Israel states for the record that “Israel initiated it, Israel conducted it, and Israel takes full responsibility”.

Two Qatari nationals were killed in the bombing in addition to members of Hamas. As Calum Miller, our Foreign Affairs spokesperson, rightly said in Parliament: “Prime Minister Netanyahu’s willingness to strike Doha will undermine efforts to secure the release of the hostages still held in Hamas’ captivity.”

Israel’s attack cannot be justified on the grounds that a legitimate military target long in hiding had just resurfaced. Qatar has hosted Hamas’ political leadership since 2012 – with the implicit blessing of both Israel and the US. No reasonable person can draw a conclusion other than that this was an attempt to derail peace talks: “it’s thought likely the targeted Hamas leaders were in the middle of discussing their formal response to the US ideas (about how to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement)”.

Hamas has committed and defends the committing of war crimes. Its constitution continues to call for the destruction of Israel. Hamas’ fighters and military leadership are legitimate targets in war, but the alternative to some kind of peace deal – the complete elimination of the organisation – cannot be achieved without the genocide of the Palestinian people. Hamas’ awfulness is in this case irrelevant: you only attempt to assassinate the people you are negotiating with if you have no intention of reaching an agreement.

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Jack Meredith

Israel and Palestine: a lasting peace

By Jack Meredith | Fri 5th September 2025 - 2:11 pm

The conflict between Israel and Hamas has been nothing short of horrifying.

Each day, we are confronted with images of devastation, loss of life, and destruction. Innocent Palestinians are perishing, while innocent Israelis are being held as hostages. Anti-war activists in Israel, comprising both Israeli and Palestinian individuals, advocate for a cessation of hostilities. Courageous anti-Hamas residents of Gaza vocally oppose the totalitarian regime that has deprived their region of democratic principles. Liberals and socialists within Israel are urging Prime Minister Netanyahu and his far-right cabinet to resign and to terminate their ongoing assaults on Palestine.

There have been too many stories of survivors of October 7th, how they were starved, beaten and raped by Hamas terrorists. I have seen too many photos of abandoned Hamas hideouts, where evidence of hoarding UN aid from their fellow Palestinians has become apparent. I have read too many accounts of anti-Gazan Hamas protestors, who are so brave to speak up against a regime that would sooner kill them than engage in dialogue, being kidnapped and “disappearing”. I have seen too many videos of starving Palestinian children begging for food and basic needs, only to be met with violence and death.

Prime Minister Netanyahu leads a regime that is determined to pursue the complete eradication of Palestine. His cabinet, characterised by a predominance of hard-right and far-right politicians, adheres to a variant of Zionism that is deeply anchored in extreme conservatism. His political adversaries, namely the Israeli Labour Party and Yesh Atid, have urged Netanyahu to resign and put an end to what they deem a barbaric conflict. Anti-war activists, who have taken to the streets of Tel Aviv advocating for peace and a two-state solution, have called for the removal of the Netanyahu administration.

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Jonathan Brown

Palestine and Israel – language matters

By Jonathan Brown | Tue 5th August 2025 - 9:00 am

In recent months, BBC coverage of Gaza has itself become a major news story. The broadcaster attracted condemnation following the airing of a documentary narrated by the son of a Hamas agriculture minister, and the livestreaming of a Glastonbury performance in which rapper Bob Vylan led chants of “death to the IDF.”  Across mainstream and social media, the BBC was accused of promoting extremism. In an emergency debate in Parliament, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called for sackings – surely an unacceptable interference in the independence of public broadcasting. The BBC issued public apologies, launched an internal review and pulled the original documentary – as well as, months later, another unrelated documentary on Israel’s systematic attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system (subsequently shown on Channel 4). This all fed the perception that the organisation’s coverage of the conflict is hopelessly biased in favour of the Palestinians.

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John McHugo

The objections to recognising Palestine as a state

By John McHugo | Thu 31st July 2025 - 12:41 pm

Note that this post has been amended.

Now that it is Government policy (albeit conditional) to recognise Palestine, arguments are going to be raised against it – so be prepared!

Before yesterday’s announcement by Starmer, two arguments had been mentioned rather tentatively by the distinguished, retired diplomat Lord Darroch on Radio 4’s The World At One on 25 July. I say ‘tentatively’ because he felt it necessary to point out in the interview that many of his diplomatic colleagues, both serving and retired, disagreed with him. These arguments were picked up by our very own Lib Dem peer Baroness Sarah Ludford and disseminated on social media. She succinctly summarised them as follows – without, so far as I could see, any gloss of her own:

Since then a third argument has been made, namely that recognition would be “rewarding terror”. This seems to be gaining rather more traction than the other two, since it has been endorsed by the families of some of the Israeli hostages kidnapped on 7 October.

What weight do these arguments carry? The first argument is essentially political, while the second is legal and the third is perhaps best described as a moral argument. Let’s deal with the legal argument first, because it is also relevant to the moral argument, and then finally turn to the political argument.

As long ago as 2006, the  late James Crawford, the leading authority on statehood in international law, Cambridge professor and subsequently Australian judge at the ICJ, provided a cogent reply to the legal argument:

There may come a point where international law regards as done that which ought to have been done, if the reason it has not been done is the serious default of one party and if the consequence of its not being done is serious prejudice to another. The principle that a State (e.g. Israel) cannot rely on its own wrongful conduct to avoid the consequences of its international obligations is capable of novel applications, and circumstances can be imagined where the international community would be entitled to treat a new State (e.g. Palestine) as existing on a given territory, notwithstanding the facts.
Crawford, The Creation of States in International Law, 2nd ed, 2006, pp. 447-8.

This is crystal clear. Since Israel is in unlawful occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and has frustrated the self-determination of the Palestinian People over many years, it is high time for the international community to apply Crawford’s reasoning and recognise Palestine as a state on the whole of the OPT alongside Israel. For that reason Sir Ed Davey got it absolutely right when he said that British recognition should have happened now, rather than waiting for UNGA in September as Starmer intends.

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Lucia Messent

A year after the ICJ ruling, the UK is still complicit in Israel’s unlawful occupation

By Lucia Messent | Fri 18th July 2025 - 8:13 pm

112 Parliamentarians, including 19 Lib Dem MPs and Peers, have this week sent a letter to the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and the Attorney General, calling on the Government to fulfil its promise to formally respond to the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion on Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territory. The letter states that the UK’s obligations under the ruling are immediate and “crystal clear,” warning that continued delays place the Government in breach of its legal obligations.

Issued almost exactly a year ago, the ICJ ruling found that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory (including Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem) is unlawful, and declared that all states are obliged not to recognise or assist the occupation in any way. The ruling places concrete obligations on the UK, including to abstain from entering economic relations that help entrench Israel’s unlawful presence, and to ban all forms of trade with illegal Israeli settlements.

When the ruling was issued, the Government acknowledged its central findings and promised to respond in due course. But in the year since, it has chosen to deflect and delay, relying on procedural excuses and taking no meaningful steps to implement its obligations. The letter sent this week reflects growing cross-party concern that the UK’s failure to respond constitutes a serious breach of its responsibilities under international law. The letter urges ministers to honour their commitments, set out clearly the measures that will now be taken, and demonstrate that the UK will not continue to act as an enabler of persistent violations.

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 6th July 2025 - 10:05 am

Donald Trump

It has been a great week for Donald Trump. Perhaps his best ever. His “Big Beautiful Bill” has passed Congress. There is nil blowback from Trump’s decision to bomb Iran and the US Supreme Court has handed him another useful decision.

But within his success could be the seeds of failure. Starting with the “Big Beautiful Bill” which, among others, cuts MedicAid to an estimated 10-15 million Americans. These are the least financially advantaged (aka poor) members of society who cannot private health insurance. Many of them voted for Trump.

These voters will not be entirely cut off from hospitals. All hospitals are required to treat emergency cases such as a broken arm. But if you have cancer or a chronic condition which requires regular hospital attention and you don’t have private health insurance, then you will be in trouble without MedicAid.

But the MedicAid cuts will affect not only America’s indigent. Someone will have to cover the increased use of accident and emergency clinics. This will have to come out of either local taxes or increased health insurance premiums for the middle classes. So everyone loses and it won’t take long for them to figure out who is responsible.

As for Iran, there has been virtually nil reaction from Tehran. They bombed a US base in Qatar but warned the Americans of the incoming missiles. Then they accepted a ceasefire. There were no more attacks on Israel. No terrorist attacks on Europe or the US. No closure of the Straits of Hormuz.

Trump’s strategy of attack hard and fast, exit quickly and propose a ceasefire appears to have worked—for now. It is still early days. We don’t know how much enriched uranium the Iranians rescued, or what they will do with it and they are certainly aren’t about to tell anyone. So Iran could still blow up into a “forever war” of the type that Trump has pledged to end.

Finally, there is the Supreme Court which ruled that the lower American courts cannot block Trump’s executive orders as they have been doing. On the surface, this is a major triumph for the president. But one needs to read the written opinion of Trump-appointed Justice Amy Comey Barrett to realise otherwise.

Justice Barrett supported the majority which ruled against the lower courts. Then she laid out a blueprint of how Trump’s opponents could block him without using the courts. Furthermore, the Supreme Court made a deal with the White House than it would accept without question any future rulings of the court.

Ukraine

Good news and bad news for Ukraine. First the bad news. The US is cutting back its supply of weaponry. The reason? Because America has supplied so many howitzer shells and patriot missiles that its own arsenal is dangerously low. It is true. The US does need to replenish stocks.

The Europeans will be able to pick up some of the slack, especially Germany. But not all.

Now the good news. The Russian summer offensive appears to be faltering. Not only that, but 50,000 Russian troops are trapped in Sumy Oblast by Ukrainian forces.

The Russian summer offensive started at the beginning of May and concentrated on north and northeast regions. It was initially successful, capturing some 173 square miles of Ukrainian territory.

But then the Ukrainian counter offensive came. The country’s top general reported this week: “Based on the results of May June, we can say that this year’s wave of the enemy’s summer offensive has failed.” He added that the Ukrainian forces had not only stopped the Russians but were now attacking and had isolated an estimated 50,000 Russian troops.

In other Ukrainian news, Russian and Ukrainian diplomats meeting in Istanbul negotiated another POW swap which took place this week.  Most of the Ukrainians that were released had been in Russian captivity since 2022. All of them were severely wounded or seriously ill.

Finally, according to the South Koreans, the North Koreans will be sending another tranche of troops to help the Russians.

Israel

It is clear that Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu is hoping for an Iran bounce. After all, he has been calling for an attack on Tehran’s nuclear facilities since 1993 and the American attack is clearly popular with Israeli voters.

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Judi Conner

Facing the harrowing facts: it’s time for bold action on Gaza and the West Bank

By Judi Conner | Thu 26th June 2025 - 12:37 pm

After more than a year and a half of bombardment, siege, and systematic starvation in Gaza, it is becoming harder than ever to grasp the true scale of Israel’s atrocities there.  Not because the evidence is lacking, but because the horrors have become so appallingly routine.

Since March, when Netanyahu abrogated the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, and effectively curtailed the further release of Israeli hostages, the Israeli military has killed almost 6,000 Palestinians, bringing the total Palestinian death toll to 56,000. Day after day, dozens of Palestinians are killed by Israeli soldiers while in their homes, in shelters, or in the queue for aid. Critical infrastructure has been destroyed, attacks on medics, aid workers and journalists have become commonplace, and famine is no longer a looming threat but a pervasive reality.

This week, Defence for Children International and Doctors Against Genocide co-published a report that gives a harrowing account of Israel’s weaponisation of starvation against Palestinian children in Gaza. It documents in unflinching detail 33 cases of child starvation, nine of them fatal, caused by Israel’s systematic obstruction of humanitarian access to the Strip. Newborns, infants and children with chronic illnesses were found to be especially vulnerable to the effects of malnutrition and dehydration, and the report concludes that Israel is using child starvation as a method of genocide, with catastrophic consequences for existing and future generations.

These findings come alongside near-daily massacres at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s food distribution sites. More than 450 Palestinians have now been killed while attempting to access lifesaving supplies. Desperate, hungry civilians are being forced to choose between starvation or Israeli gunfire. These are clear war crimes, as the UN human rights office recognised this week, and the UK should be using every lever available to stop them.

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Jack Meredith

Please sir, may I have no war?

By Jack Meredith | Thu 19th June 2025 - 11:31 am

The presidency of Donald Trump has, thus far, been defined by his failure to fulfil his election promise to de-escalate global conflicts.

Most recently, Trump has flirted with the idea of the US entering into the Israel-Iran conflict, commenting, “I may do it, I may not do it” when questioned. To put it simply, this is not the language of de-escalation.

But the next logical question after “Will the US get involved?” can only be “Will it call on the UK to join?”. This decision will come down to Keir Starmer, who will either have the choice of authorising the UK’s involvement or putting the decision to a parliamentary vote, the latter being the route taken by former Prime Minister Tony Blair regarding the Iraq War.

There is, however, a third option: the Wilson approach.

Former Prime Minister Harold Wilson decided to withhold the UK military’s involvement in the Vietnam War, a decision echoed by his successor, Edward Heath. While both provided support through materials and rhetorical encouragement, neither leader engaged directly.

Keir Starmer will likely face this choice in the coming weeks and months. Either he will have the UK join Trump in engaging in war, or he will withhold British military support. It is his moment to show whether Wilson or Blair inspires his leadership.

I hope that he chooses the former, for all our sakes.

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Mark Valladares

13 June 2025 – Friday’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Sun 15th June 2025 - 3:04 pm
  • Davey: International leadership is needed now
  • Davey urges Starmer to forge new UK-Canada defence pact to reduce reliance on Trump
  • Greene to Tories: It’s Kemi-geddon
  • Greene: Badenoch might as well say vote Lib Dem

Davey: International leadership is needed now

Following Israel’s strikes in Iran overnight, Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

People across the UK and the world will be fearing the break-out of widespread regional conflict in the Middle East, following Israel’s strikes overnight.

The UK must work with allies to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions through diplomacy, not war.

The UK Government should urge both Israel and Iran not to do anything that will escalate the situation any further.

International leadership is needed now.

Davey urges Starmer to forge new UK-Canada defence pact to reduce reliance on Trump

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey has called on the Prime Minister to forge a new UK-Canada defence pact, to strengthen national security and boost the economy, while reducing both countries’ reliance on Donald Trump’s US administration.

It comes as Keir Starmer is expected to arrive in Canada ahead of the G7 summit beginning this weekend.

This week the Trump administration said it would review the submarine deal with the UK and Australia, saying the security pact must fit its “America First” agenda.

Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said:

Trump has shown his disregard for our collective security time and time again – not least this week, displaying total indifference to his traditional allies by threatening the future of the AUKUS defence agreement.

We should work with our Commonwealth ally Canada as it joins the UK in increasing defence spending, but also looks to move away from its reliance on US military exports.

That is why I am urging the Prime Minister to propose a new, bilateral UK-Canada defence pact at the G7 this weekend, making us more secure while also boosting British manufacturing.

Greene to Tories: It’s Kemi-geddon

Speaking as the Scottish Conservative conference gets underway at Murrayfield in Edinburgh, Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Jamie Greene said:

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John Kelly

UK sanctions on Israeli ministers must be a turning point, not a token gesture

By John Kelly | Sun 15th June 2025 - 12:15 pm

This week, the UK government announced sanctions on Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, alongside Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway. citing their incitement of violence and abuses of Palestinian human rights. This marks a significant shift – from targeting individual settlers to sanctioning sitting ministers – and is a move the Liberal Democrats have long called for in parliament. 

But if this action is to be more than symbolic, it must mark a broader change in UK policy. Sanctions should not stop at ministers who incite violence; they must extend …

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Tom Arms

Tom Arms’ World Review

By Tom Arms | Sun 15th June 2025 - 10:11 am

United States

The Los Angeles riots started at a local Home Depot store. These stores are a national network of shops selling hardware and DIY material.

Throughout America they act as a magnet for illegal aliens—main Hispanic and Latinos—who base themselves outside shops in search of part-time construction and handyman jobs.

Where illegal aliens gather you will now find Trumps ICE (Immigration Control Enforcement) agents ready to swoop down, arrest, detain and deport. Which is exactly what happened last Friday at the Home Depot store in Los Angeles’s Westlake District and at LA’s Huntington Park.

Normally, the arrests are relatively peaceful. The arrestees may try to run for it, but generally, they are quiet affairs. This time they fought back. They were soon joined by friends, neighbours and family trying to prevent the arrests.

The result was a riot. There was looting and cars were set alight. But the fighting was confined to a few city blocks. Elsewhere in Los Angeles life continued as normal.

Trump did not care. The Los Angeles riots were an opportunity to project his strong man image on the one issue that resonates most with American voters—immigration. Despite the local nature of the riots he went over Governor Gavin Newsom’s head and ordered in 2,000 National Guardsmen and 600 marines.

According to the LAPD, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass and Governor Newsom, Trump inflamed the situation and – most important of all—broke the law.

The law which they claim Trump broke is the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 which restricts the use of federal troops for domestic law enforcement. There are exceptions, mainly those governed by the 1807 Insurrection Act which says the president can order in federal troops in order to suppress rebellion or insurrection or to enforce federal law when local authorities are unwilling or unable to do so.

The Home Depot disturbances were not an insurrection—however much far-right nationalists claim otherwise. Neither were they a rebellion. And as for the willingness of the local authorities, the mayor had already ordered in the police who said they were in control.

The end result is three-fold. First liberal progressives are now convinced that Trump will use every demonstration as an excuse to shout “insurrection” and possibly declare martial law which could lead to a postponement of elections. Secondly, MAGA Republicans think their president is even more wonderful which means the country is even more divided. Finally, Trump faces another court case. This time he is being taken court by Governor Newsom who also happens to be the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president in 2028.

Trump v Musk

The Battle of the Titans—Trump v. Musk—is over. And Trump has won.

It was inevitable. Alright, Musk is the world’s wealthiest man at $400-plus billion. But Trump controls the machinery of the world’s most powerful country, and he has repeatedly proven that he is not afraid to use that power to further his own ends.

Musk talked—or rather tweeted—big about exposing Trump’s sexual antics and funding a third political party. But his power is based entirely on his pile of cash and Trump has the power to reduce it.

Musk does have some leverage. Both NASA and the Pentagon are dependent on the billionaire’s technology to maintain vital satellite communications and complete planned lunar expeditions. The contracts to provide this technology are worth billions for several years to come.

Trump—in one of his more peevish moods—did threaten to terminate those contracts. It was an empty threat.

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Tom Arms

Observations of an Expat: Bombing Iran

By Tom Arms | Sat 14th June 2025 - 10:03 am

There is no safe way to bomb an Iranian nuclear reactor.

This is especially true of Iran’s facilities as the key ones are buried deep underground and heavily protected.

The more impregnable the target. The bigger the bomb required to destroy it. The greater the risk of a nuclear disaster.

This is why Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), quickly called a press conference when he heard of Israel’s attacks on Iran’s nuclear power plants.

Nuclear sites, he said, should never be attacked. He added: “Any military action that jeopardises the safety and security of nuclear facilities risks grave consequences for the people of Iran, the region and beyond.”

The 1986 Chernobyl Disaster resulted in radioactive dust carried to a dozen European countries. Forests died in Scandinavia. Fish stocks were polluted and restrictions on sheep grazing were in place in Wales and the English Lake District for decades. A total of 2,600 square kilometres around Chernobyl has been closed.

Iran has five nuclear facilities – Natanza, Fordow, Isfahan, Arabk and Bushehr. The ones suspected of producing nuclear warheads are Natanza and Fordow. Natanza’s reactors are buried 40-50 metres underground. Fordow’s are also buried deep inside a mountain.

If one of them is severely damaged than the Shamal wind would blow radioactive particles towards Iraq, Syria, the Persian Gulf, Lebanon and even Israel.

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Mark Valladares

10 June 2025 – today’s Federal press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 10th June 2025 - 10:30 pm
  • Workforce figures: clear the Government must change course
  • Spending Review must deliver progress on social care
  • “Conveyor belt of Trump sycophants” rolls on as David Bull appointed Reform Chairman
  • Spending review: Home Office at risk of £500 million shortfall as Home Secretary on ‘resignation watch’
  • Ben-Gvir and Smotrich: Davey welcomes sanctions and calls for recognition of Palestine
  • £3 Bus cap extension: Labour clearly isn’t listening

Workforce figures: clear the Government must change course

Responding to the latest workforce figures which show unemployment and the number on jobless benefits rising, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

These figures could not be a clearer signal to the Chancellor, ahead of the spending review, that the Government must change course.

The Chancellor’s pig’s ear of a jobs tax is crushing the growth potential of our high-streets and small businesses, pushing people out of work, and ramping up the benefits bill.

This week, instead of pursuing another round of devastating departmental cuts, the Government needs to take the handbrake off our economy and go for growth. That means negotiating a bespoke UK-EU Customs Union to turbocharge our economy and raise billions of pounds to protect public services and struggling families.

Spending Review must deliver progress on social care

Ahead of the spending review today (11th June) Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

People have been left desperately disappointed in the Government’s failure to break clean from years of Conservative neglect and finally start delivering the change that people were promised.

Today’s spending review must deliver progress on social care. The Government’s bid to start reforms has barely progressed since it was announced six-months ago. Yet we all know the simple truth: without solving the social care challenge, putting money into the NHS today will be like pouring water into a leaky bucket.

Ministers should also be slashing the reams of red tape that are holding local businesses back and negotiate a bespoke UK-EU customs union, rather than pursuing painful cuts to already stretched budgets. Until they do, the Chancellor will still be trying to drive the economy forward with the handbrake on.

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Andy Daer

Top lawyers challenge the government on Gaza

By Andy Daer | Thu 29th May 2025 - 2:54 pm

Today, a letter signed by 828 lawyers was sent to the British government. UK Judges’ and Lawyers’ Open Letter Concerning the Occupied Palestinian Territory – May 2025 – UK lawyers’ open letter concerning Gaza

As has been noted previously in Lib Dem Voice, and as the lawyers who signed the letter have now stated, the British government needs to take action, not merely voice concern, or issue threats of “concrete” action which so far have come to nothing.  Keir Starmer and David Lammy both suddenly sounded statesman-like when they unveiled those threats, prompted, it appears, not by the nearly 20 months of disproportionate reaction to the October 7 attack by Hamas, but more likely by the televised images of starving babies which might be prompting the British electorate to ask why we are still supplying arms to Israel, and why we haven’t imposed sanctions.

The call from such a huge number of top lawyers and legal experts for positive action is something the government can’t ignore, and indeed it’s hard to see why the Attorney General, Lord Richard Hermer, hasn’t either demanded a change of course, or resigned.  Not long ago David Lammy refused to comment on whether Genocide was taking place in Gaza, saying that wasn’t for a matter for the Foreign Secretary, and was for lawyers to decide.  Lammy graduated from Harvard Law School in 1997, and may have forgotten that he is a lawyer himself, but it seems astonishing that he didn’t seek guidance from the Attorney General, or that if he did, Lord Hermer’s opinion has been kept secret from Parliament and the British public.  No doubt the Labour government, exactly like the Conservatives who preceded them, regards embarrassing legal advice as best kept secret.

The Israeli/American plan to distribute food in Gaza, by-passing normal aid agencies

This has failed to achieve its own very limited objectives, to no-one’s surprise.  Meanwhile the UN’s Office for the  Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tells us there are 171,000 tons of food embargoed by the Israelis, which could be safely delivered by humanitarian agencies, and which would feed the entire population of Gaza for three to four months.  Instead there is a botched attempt by distrusted private security firms, amid fear that the plan is to kettle Palestinians in the south of Gaza using food as bait, or worse, to lure people known or thought to be associated with Hamas into the arms of the IDF.

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Andy Daer

When will we impose sanctions on Israel ?

By Andy Daer | Fri 9th May 2025 - 10:03 am

For years, many of us have been asking what it would take for the British government to officially recognise Palestine – in order to delegitimise the Israeli annexation of the West Bank and Gaza, and usher in the end of the territorial ambitions of Israel’s far-right.  Well, now we know it’s not Israel bombing Gaza flat in a lethal campaign involving deliberately targeting schools, universities and hospitals, killing tens of thousands of civilians including humanitarian workers, ignoring and disrespecting the UN and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and adding starvation as a war tactic.  The current British government has responded to the Gaza war with the usual evasions and denials.

And yet it was Great Britain which told the League of Nations when we took responsibility for Palestine after World War I that delivering a fair outcome for all the peoples of Mandate Palestine was “a sacred duty for Civilisation”.  Although the passage of time has dimmed that memory for us, it understandably hasn’t dimmed it for the generations of Palestinians who have lived under what Amnesty International calls a system of “oppression” and “apartheid”.  Israeli historian Ilan Pappe long ago called the West Bank an open prison, and Gaza a closed prison.

The key sticking point now is whether or not the destruction of Gaza and its people constitutes genocide.  If the UK government admits that Israel’s actions in Gaza seem like genocide it will be obliged, under the Genocide Convention, to act to stop it, and because of that, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has stood up in the House of Commons and said categorically that he does not recognise what is happening as genocide.

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