April 4, 2024 (EIRNS)—It has been three days since the April 1 killings of three of Britain’s aid workers in Gaza, and the country is witnessing an outbreak of public sanity. First, a YouGov poll was released showing that a ban on the U.K. shipping any more weapons to Israel is favored by 56% to 17%.
Next, politicians have discovered there’s something nasty going on in Gaza. Britain’s opposition Labour Party, according to the Times of Israel, is demanding that the government publish the legal advice it was provided on Israel breaking international humanitarian law—which would affect the U.K.’s arms sales to Israel. Two smaller opposition parties, the centrist Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party, also called for a halt on the arms sales. The call to stop the arms exports has reached to three Tory backbenchers (MPs who do not hold office in the government or opposition).
David Lammy, Shadow Foreign Secretary in the opposition Labour Party, said that “there are very serious accusations that Israel has breached international law.” He called on the government to “publish the legal advice now,” claiming that “if it says there is a clear risk that U.K. arms might be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law, it’s time to suspend the sale of those arms.” Scotland First Minister Humza Yousaf warned that, unless the arms sales are stopped, “the U.K. is in danger of being complicit in the killing of innocent civilians.”
Finally, even the national security advisor for former Prime Minister David Cameron, Lord Peter Ricketts, stated on the BBC Radio 4’s Today program: “I think there’s abundant evidence now that Israel hasn’t been taking enough care to fulfill its obligations on the safety of civilians. And a country that gets arms from the U.K. has to comply with international humanitarian law. That’s a condition of the arms export license.” Commenting on the April 1 killings, he said that Britain had now “reached that point” when it’s time to “signal” Israel that international law must be taken seriously. “Sometimes in conflict you get a moment where there is such global outrage that it crystallizes a sense that things can’t go on like this. I hope that this awful incident will serve that purpose.”
