April 1, 2024 (EIRNS)—Yesterday, The Guardian reported on the leak of an audio recording, originally obtained by its associate daily, The Observer, in which MP Alicia Kearns, chair of the House foreign affairs select committee is heard saying that lawyers in the Foreign Office have advised the government that Israel has breached international humanitarian law in Gaza, but has failed to make it public. Kearns made her comments, which The Guardian notes are at odds with “with repeated ministerial denials and evasion on the issue,” at a Tory fundraiser on March 13.
Kearns herself confirmed her comments on March 30. “I remain convinced the government has completed its updated assessment on whether Israel is demonstrating a commitment to international humanitarian law, and that it has concluded that Israel is not demonstrating this commitment, which is the legal determination it has to make,” she said. “Transparency at this point is paramount, not least to uphold the international rules-based order.”
The revelation, The Guardian says, will place Foreign Minister Lord David Cameron and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak under intense pressure because any such legal advice would mean the U.K. had to cease all arms sales to Israel without delay. Legal experts said that not to do so would risk putting the U.K. in breach of international law itself, as it would be seen as aiding and abetting war crimes by a country it was exporting arms to. Not mentioned by The Guardian is that this all sounds like a stinky echo of Tony Blair’s suppression of legal advice in 2003 that the invasion of Iraq was not authorized by international law.
