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stop the war coalition
'Admission of Guilt': UK Suspends Some Arms Export Licenses to Israel Over Gaza
"Finally—but this is both too little and too late," said the International Center of Justice for Palestinians.
Sep 02, 2024
As governments enabling Israel's devastating war on the Gaza Strip face growing global demands to impose arms embargoes, a U.K. minister on Monday announced the suspension of approximately 30 of 350 weapons export licenses.
"This is not a blanket ban. This is not an arms embargo," stressed U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, part of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party, which took control of the government after voters ended 14 years of Conservative rule in July.
While describing himself as a "friend of Israel" and "a liberal, progressive Zionist," Lammy said that "it is this government's legal duty to review export licenses" and "the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain U.K. arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law."
The targeted licenses are for "equipment that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza, such as important components which go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters, and drones, as well as items which facilitate ground targeting," Lammy told the U.K. Parliament. The remaining exports "will continue" and "the government will keep our position under review."
According to the Financial Times:
The move will not affect components for the multinational F-35 joint striker fighter program, except regarding parts sent directly to Israel.
U.K. officials determined that suspending critical components within a global pool of spare parts could harm the maintenance and operations of F-35s in other nations.
"When Israel is carrying out a genocidal assault in Gaza, we shouldn't just ban a small fraction of arms licenses to Israel,"
said Zarah Sultana, a Labour Party member who represents Coventry South in Parliament. "This ban still allows the U.K. to sell parts for F-35 fighter jets, known as 'the most lethal' in the world. The government needs to ban ALL arms sales."
Stop the War Coalition
called the suspension "an admission of guilt" and similarly stressed that "we need a full, comprehensive ban on arms sales to apartheid Israel—not this half-hearted approach."
Lammy's announcement came as the Danish news outlet
Information and NGO Danwatch connected Israel's use of an F-35 stealth fighter to a July 13 attack on an Israeli-designated "safe zone" in southern Gaza, which killed scores of Palestinians and injured hundreds more.
In a statement responding to both developments, Sam Perlo-Freeman, research coordinator for the Campaign Against Arms Trade,
said:
The government's statement today that it is suspending 30 arms export licenses to Israel is a belated, but welcome move, finally acting upon the overwhelming evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza. But exempting parts for Israel's F-35 is utterly outrageous and unjustifiable.
These are by far the U.K.'s most significant arms supplies to the Israeli military, and just today we have confirmation that they have been used in one of the most egregious attacks in recent months. The government has admitted that there is a 'clear risk' that Israel is using fighter aircraft among other weapons to violate international humanitarian law. How can this 'clear risk' not apply to the F-35s? The only right and legal course of action is to end the supply of F-35 parts to Israel, along with the rest of U.K. arms sales.
Although the suspension is not as bold as critics of Israel's bombardment have called for, it was still seen as another positive step under Starmer, whose government has also recently resumed funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and dropped a challenge to the International Criminal Court prosecutor's request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as well as Hamas leaders.
While Gallant said he was "deeply disheartened" by the U.K.'s latest move, Dearbhla Minogue, senior lawyer for the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), declared that "this momentous decision vindicates everything Palestinians have been saying for months."
GLAN and Al-Haq on Saturday had threatened the U.K. government with new legal action if it failed to engage the suspension mechanism following revelations in The Guardian and The Telegraph regarding communications between Attorney General Richard Hermer and the Foreign Office about weapons sales to Israel.
"The U.K. government was backed into a corner," Minogue said Monday. "Our most recent letter showed that a suspension was the only right and legal thing to do. This is a truly historic victory for Al-Haq and for Palestinians. The exhaustive evidence we filed in mid-August showed that there was only one legally sound decision available to the government—that it is against the law to supply Israel with weapons for use against Palestinians in Gaza."
Both groups are now considering their next actions. Fellow GLAN lawyer Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe emphasized, "Now that the government has taken this important step, it must do much, much more, and abide by its obligations under international law to do everything in its power to prevent the commission of genocide."
Israel faces an ongoing South Africa-led genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its nearly 11-month assault on Gaza, which has killed at least 40,786 Palestinians, injured another 94,224, and forcibly displaced most of the enclave's 2.3 million residents, who are struggling to find food, water, shelter, and adequate medical care.
The Associated Pressreported that "British firms sell a relatively small amount of weapons and components to Israel compared to major suppliers such as the U.S. and Germany. Earlier this year, the government said military exports to Israel amounted to £42 million ($53 million) in 2022."
Still, the suspension could increase pressure on other allies of Israel to take similar action and
strain relations with the U.S. government—which, under President Joe Biden, has showered Israel with weapons and diplomatic support since the current escalation of the decadeslong conflict began in October.
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Hundreds of Thousands March for Gaza as World Demands Cease-Fire
Coordinated actions from DC to London to Jakarta designed to "send a powerful message not just to the Israelis but to the Western powers who are backing them that the public say 'not in our name.'"
Jan 13, 2024
Major coordinated demonstrations took place across the world on Saturday to mark the 100th day of Israel's bombardment and military assault on the people of the Gaza Strip that have now claimed the lives of nearly 24,000 Palestinians, a large majority of them innocent men, women, and children who had nothing to do with the attacks orchestrated by Hamas on October 7 of last year.
In London, as many as 500,000 people marched on Parliament Square to demand an immediate cease-fire Gaza, condemn their own U.K. government's support of Israel's disproportionate and "genocidal" onslaught, and warn against a wider regional war that experts warn is creeping closer by the day.
'Justice is lacking': pro-Palestine demonstrators gather in Londonwww.youtube.com
"This Global Day of Action, from Australia through to Asia, Europe and the Americas, is the first coordinated, international movement against the war being waged by Israel on the Palestinian people," said Gaza Global Day of Action organizers ahead of the demonstration. "It will send a powerful message not just to the Israelis but to the Western powers who are backing them that the public say 'not in our name.'"
In Dublin, organizers of a march that saw more than 100,000 march through city streets called it the largest rally for Palestinian rights in Irish history.
As the Irish Timesreports:
The crowd was filled with Palestinian flags, posters calling for an "End to the Gaza genocide" as well as makeshift washing lines, with baby clothes hanging from it, representing the many young lives lost in the conflict.
At the front of the march, four people held mock corpses in bloody body bags to represent the growing number of civilian casualties.
In the United States, an estimated 400,000 people marched in Washington, D.C. to denounce the Israeli onslaught—which has claimed over 23,000 lives, including more than 10,000 children—as well as their own government's complicity in the carnage. President Joe Biden was on the tip of many demonstrators' tongues and polls in the U.S. have shown very little support across the political spectrum for how he is handling the situation.
Jake and Ida Braford, a young couple from Richmond, Virginia, who brought their two small children to the protest, told the Associated Press the situation in Gaza has made them unsure of their support for Biden come this year's election.
"We're pretty disheartened," Ida told the news agency. "Seeing what is happening in Gaza, and the government's actions makes me wonder what is our vote worth?"
Lexia Reyher and Eli Hausman explained to the Washington Post how they drove through the night from Indiana to attend the demonstration. "There's strength in numbers," Hausman told the newspaper. "When we all show up, people know we care. When we have an opportunity to come together, we're going to take it."
Following the march, demonstrators left a pile of bloodied baby dolls, including severe parts, in a pile outside the White House as a message to Biden. "The blood of the over 10,000 murdered children in Gaza is on his hands," said CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, thousands gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta to condemn the ongoing "genocide" in Gaza perpetrated by Israel with the backing of the U.S. government and other Western allies.
Global day of action: Demonstration at US embassy in Jakarta urges ceasefire in Gazawww.youtube.com
Large protests were also held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as well as in the South African cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg. On Thursday, a delegation from South Africa presented its case charging Israel with genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
"We are here today to be part of the global day of action that will see demonstrations planned in more than 66 cities and at least 36 countries," said a statement released by the organizers in Cape Town. "Today's rally will be part of a united front of global voices, calling unconditionally for an immediate and permanent ceasefire."
Cities in Israel were not among those holding large-scale demonstrations against the government's ongoing military campaign in Gaza. One application by Israelis for a rally in Haifa to denounce the onslaught was rejected.
As Haaretzreported: "The commander of the police's Coastal District, Maj. Gen. Daniel Levy, explained that the refusal to grant the permit was over "real concerns about a serious disruption to public order," adding that there was a high likelihood that violence would break out between demonstrators and people opposing the demonstration."
Update: This piece has updated to reflect the estimated attendance at the demonstration in Washington, D.C. and to include other voices from that event.
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Millions Set to March for Gaza Cease-Fire as Threat of Regional War Surges
"It will send a powerful message not just to the Israelis but to the Western powers who are backing them that the public say, 'Not in our name.'"
Jan 12, 2024
Millions of people are expected to take to the streets worldwide on Saturday to demand a permanent cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and denounce the U.S.-led bombing of Yemen, which pushed the Middle East even closer to a full-scale regional war.
Organizers said people in over 120 cities across 45 countries are planning to join the Gaza Global Day of Action, a mass demonstration that will begin days after South Africa presented evidence before the International Court of Justice that Israel is committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave.
"This global day of action, from Australia through to Asia, Europe, and the Americas, is the first coordinated, international movement against the war being waged by Israel on the Palestinian people," said Kate Hudson, general secretary of the U.K.-based Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. "It will send a powerful message not just to the Israelis but to the Western powers who are backing them that the public say, 'Not in our name.'"
Major protests are expected in New York City, Washington, D.C., London, Paris, Cairo, Istanbul, Tokyo, and scores of other cities and towns.
Israeli forces have killed more than 23,000 people—including over 10,000 children—in Gaza in just over three months, devastated the territory's infrastructure, and sparked a horrifying humanitarian crisis. Much of Gaza's population is displaced, starving, and at growing risk of disease.
Hudson said Friday that in the face of such a catastrophe, "everyone with a conscience" should "join the millions of voices from around the world in demanding an end to endless war."
"Your participation will amplify the call for justice for innocent Palestinians and every citizen of every country targeted by the missiles of Israel and the West," said Hudson. "It will make it clear to those countries that they do not have their citizens' support for their actions."
"Saturday is going to be a very important day for the anti-war movement," she added. "So let's unite, make a difference, and show that together, we can create waves of change that echo globally. Let's paint a picture of hope, unity, and lasting change."
The Biden administration has insisted it hopes to prevent Israel's assault on Gaza—which the U.S. has backed from the start with weaponry and diplomatic support—from spreading across the region, but it has launched airstrikes in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen since October 7, targeting Iran-aligned militia groups and heightening the risk of a broader war.
The growing number of Biden administration and congressional staffers who support a cease-fire are expected to speak at a rally in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.
In a statement late Thursday announcing the Yemen airstrikes—which many U.S. lawmakers slammed as unconstitutional—President Joe Biden said he "will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary," signaling that additional attacks on Yemen are on the table.
"Instead of working to end Israel's massacre of Palestinians, the Biden administration is choosing war and further destruction," IfNotNow, a Jewish American advocacy group, said Friday in response to the U.S. strikes in Yemen. "There is no military solution. We need a lasting cease-fire NOW."
Ismail Patel, visiting research fellow at the University of Leeds, wrote in an op-ed for Middle East Eye last week that plans for Saturday's global demonstrations were inspired in part by the inability of international institutions such as the United Nations to act as Israel and its Western allies operate with impunity on the world stage.
"A global day of protest thus serves as a powerful tool for exposing this unfair and ineffective order," Patel argued. "It further sheds light on how the U.S. and U.K. governments hold justice hostage and the world at ransom as they continuously shield Israel from accountability."
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