In London, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been warned he could “end up in The Hague” due to his “inaction” and “cowardice” over Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza—a reference to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which has the responsibility to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and crimes of aggression. The warning came from Kit Malthouse, a Conservative MP from North West Hampshire, who addressed Lammy just after he had announced to the House of Commons on July 21 that he and two dozen other foreign ministers had just signed a statement demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. He also announced that the U.K. was setting aside £60 million ($84 million) in humanitarian assistance to Gaza but stopped short of saying that the government would be recognizing a Palestinian state.
“Like others in this House, I am frankly astonished at the statement of the Foreign Secretary,” Malthouse began. “At a time when we have got daily lynchings and expulsions on the West Bank, and dozens being murdered as they beg for aid, I am just beyond words at his inaction—and, frankly, complicity by inaction. He said himself that there is a massive prison camp being constructed in the south of Gaza and he knows that leading genocide scholars from across the world are ringing the alarm bells, yet he has the temerity to show up in this House and wave his cheque book as if that is going to salve his conscience. Can he not see that his inaction and, frankly, cowardice are making this country irrelevant? Can he also not see the personal risk to him, given our international obligations—that he may end up at The Hague because of his inaction?”
Lammy, rather than addressing the substance of Malthouse’s statement, could only accuse him of launching a personal attack. “I have to tell him that it demeans his argument when he personalizes it in the way that he does,” he said. “It is unbecoming, and not something the House expects, particularly of its more senior Members.”
The debate on Gaza came a few days after nearly 60 British MPs and peers called for a full embargo on arms exports to Israel and for the government to be more transparent about the licences it grants for military exports in a 18 July letter sent to Lammy and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, reported Middle East Eye. Those who signed the letter, including MPs Zarah Sultana, John McDonnell, and Jeremy Corbyn, say the U.K. government should immediately end all arms exports to Israel or risk being complicit in genocide. “The components which create the fighter jets that Israel has used to level Gaza are 15% British-made—we cannot hide from that,” said Labour MP Steve Witherden, who organized the letter. “Without British arms export licences, these jets could not fly, they could not drop their bombs.”
