Over 800 Lawyers Urge UK to Impose Sanctions on Israel Over Gaza Genocide
More than 800 lawyers, academics, and retired senior judges, including former Supreme Court justices, have called on the UK to impose sanctions on Israel and its ministers, urging the government to fulfill its “fundamental international legal obligations” over the ongoing genocide and aid blockade in Gaza.
In a joint statement last week, 23 nations—including Canada, the UK, France, and Australia—condemned Israel for allowing only very limited humanitarian aid into Gaza. The statement urged Israel to permit the entry of more aid, warning that the population is facing “starvation.” It emphasized that humanitarian assistance should never be politicized.
The leaders of the UK, France, and Canada also issued issued a sharp warning to Israel. In a separate joint statement, they condemned Israel’s expanded attacks on Gaza and the West Bank and threatened concrete action if the offensive continues and the blockade on humanitarian aid is not lifted.
“We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions,” the statement said. “If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.”
In a letter to the Prime Minister, reported by The Guardian on Tuesday, the signatories welcome Keir Starmer’s joint statements. However, they urge him to act without delay as “urgent and decisive action is required to avert the destruction of the Palestinian people of Gaza”.
The signatories say that war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law are being committed in Palestine.
They include the former supreme court justices Lord Sumption and Lord Wilson, court of appeal judges and more than 70 KCs
The letter adds that there is mounting evidence of genocide, which is either being perpetrated or at a minimum at serious risk of occurring. It highlighted Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s recent conments in which he said Israel’s army would “wipe out” what remains of Palestinian Gaza.
The signatories tell Starmer: “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].
They states, “The UK’s actions to date have failed to meet those standards … 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, UK’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the suspension of negotiations over a new free trade deal with Israel, but the two-page letter, backed by a 35-page legal memorandum, says he must go further, faster by reviewing existing trade ties, suspending the 2030 roadmap for closer UK-Israel partnership and imposing trade sanctions.
They urge Lammy to immediately sanction Israeli ministers or senior officials in the military who they accuse of having incited genocide or supporting and sponsoring illegal settlements. They note that so far financial sanctions and travel bans have been limited to individual settlers, settler outposts and settler organisations.
Among the signatories are former court of appeal judges Sir Stephen Sedley, Sir Anthony Hooper and Sir Alan Moses, a former chair of the bar of England and Wales (Matthias Kelly KC) and of the bar of Northern Ireland (Brian Fee KC).
The letter says Israel has been responsible for “an assault on the United Nations”, pointing to Israel’s banning of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, which it calls the “backbone of aid” for the Palestinian people, from operating in the occupied territory and “attacks on UN premises, property and personnel”. These acts are said to “go beyond isolated breaches. They amount to a broader challenge to the UN charter system itself.”
Accordingly, as a permanent member on the UNSC, the signatories say the UK should consider initiating proceedings that provide for suspension of a member state.
On March 2, Israel announced the closure of Gaza’s main crossings, cutting off food, medical and humanitarian supplies, worsening a humanitarian crisis for 2.3 million Palestinians, according to reports by human rights organisations who have accused it of using starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinains.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report last week warned that almost a quarter of the civilian population would face catastrophic levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase Five) in the coming months.
However, after about 80 days of total blockade and starvation and widespread international outrage, Israel announced about a week ago it will allow a very limited passage of aid trucks into the enclave through several international organizations until a new US-Israeli aid mechanism begins.
The United Nations confirmed that Israel is still blocking food from reaching starving Palestinians with only a few trucks of aid having reached Gaza.
UN Secretary General António Guterres said on Friday that Israel had only authorised for Gaza what “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required” to ease the crisis.
The limited number of aid trucks allowed into Gaza falls far short of meeting the territory’s vast humanitarian needs and instead serves as a “smokescreen” for Israel to “pretend the siege is over,” according to the medical charity Doctors Without Borders.
The letter says that the limited aid allowed in “remains gravely insufficient to address the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe”.
The letter also says the UK should confirm that it would execute the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister,
Benjamin Netanyahu and his Former Fefence Minister Yoav Gallant.