Pressure builds on UK govt to hit Israel with sanctions

A letter signed by more than 800 people, including two former supreme court judges and numerous academics, has been sent to the United Kingdom government, demanding that it impose sanctions on Israel's government and, in its capacity as a member of the United Nations Security Council, consider suspending Israel's UN membership over the Gaza crisis.

The Guardian newspaper quoted from the letter that was sent to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which praised the recent statement jointly issued by him and the leaders of France and Canada and was heavily critical of Israel's behavior. But it urged him to take "urgent and decisive action … to avert the destruction of the Palestinian people of Gaza".

Broadcaster Al-Jazeera cited Gaza's Health Ministry on May 27 as saying that Israel's military operation in the area had so far killed at least 53,977 Palestinians and wounded 122,966.

The operation began after the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023, which left an estimated 1,139 people dead, with hundreds more taken hostage.

The letter went on to say "all states, including the UK, are legally obliged to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent and punish genocide; to ensure respect for international humanitarian law; and to bring to an end violations of (the right to self-determination)".

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines genocide as the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said: "The charge of genocide levelled against Israel is not only false, it's outrageous, and decent people everywhere should reject it."

The letter sent to Starmer accuses the UK of failing to live up to its responsibilities and adds that "the international community's failure to uphold international law in relation to the occupied Palestinian territory contributes to a deteriorating international climate of lawlessness and impunity and imperils the international legal system itself. Your government must act now, before it is too late".

Last week, the British government announced the suspension of talks over a trade deal with Israel.

But despite this and heavily critical comments by UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, the UK's trade envoy to Israel, Ian Austin, is in the country this week, to "meet businesses and officials to promote trade with the UK". He has said that trade "provides many thousands of good jobs in the UK and brings people together in the great multi-cultural democracy that is Israel".

Germany has long been a supporter of Israel, but its Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said the ongoing strikes on Gaza can no longer be justified in the name of fighting Hamas.

"Harming the civilian population to such an extent, as has increasingly been the case in recent days, can no longer be justified," he told broadcaster WDR.

"I no longer understand what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip, with what goal the civilian population is being impacted to such an extent."