UK sued for sending weapons for 'Israel's' genocide on Gaza
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The case against the UK notably accuses the UK of complicity in Israel's violations of international law and genocide.
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Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at 10 Downing Street in London, March 24, 2023. (AP)
The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and the Al-Haq human rights organization in Ramallah have launched legal action against the UK in the High Court for continuously sending weapons to "Israel", which is violating international humanitarian law, and for failing to respond to demands to stop the arms sales, which also breaches international law.
The application, which calls out "Israel's" attacks on civilians, infrastructure, and internationally-protected facilities like hospitals and schools, in addition to acts of forced displacement and measures of starvation, has already garnered support from the independent International Centre for Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) and civil society group, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).
The case notably accuses the UK of complicity in Israel's violations of international law and genocide.
Aiding and abetting of war crimes
ICJP's Legal Affairs Officer, Dania Abu Elhaj, relayed to Anadolu Agency that the UK has approved military export licenses to "Israel" amounting to at least £474 million ($601 million) since 2015, and almost 15% of the material used in "Israel's" bombing of Gaza with F-35 aircraft are provided by the UK.
"The F-35 aircraft is currently being used to bombard Gaza at the moment, helping kill thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians and bombards civilian infrastructure and houses," she said.
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"This complicity entails the aiding and abetting of the war crimes that are being conducted right now before our very own eyes on the ground. So we believe politicians who are providing moral support and any material support provided to Israel may be held accountable for aiding and abetting the commission of these crimes."
"We believe the UK should not be granting any licensing agreements for its businesses to provide weapons to Israel or to any regimes actually that commit the scale of atrocities that we're witnessing today happening in Gaza. UK has a legal obligation to abide by its own strategic arms licensing criteria, which is what the submission submitted by ICJP, GLAN and Al Halq provides," she noted.
Sitting still and staying silent
The UK's obligation to cease arms trade with countries committing serious violations of international law or using weapons to violate international legal standards was brought up by Elhaj, who confirmed as well that Al-Haq and GLAN, with ICJP's support, have started a legal probe of the Strategic Arms Licensing Criteria between the UK and "Israel".
Elhaj called for a review of the UK's Strategic Arms Licensing Criteria and urged the UK to abstain from providing materials to be used in warplanes or weapons against the Palestinians.
"When it comes to our expectations of judicial review, we have seen in 2009 the UK suspending arms trading with Israel in light of Operation Cast Lead. We have also seen the UK review its licensed arms exports to Israel in 2014 and within that review, there was a suspension of the arms export to Israel until the review was conducted," she continued.
"We have also seen the UK admit in 2009 that their British-made arms had been used by Israel and they had misused the equipment and that this conclusion would inform future license applications".
According to Elhaj, those responsible for war crimes must be held accountable, and if politicians brush off the need to conform to the law, courts should intervene to serve justice.
This comes following an exclusive interview with Al Mayadeen in which Claudia Webbe, a member of the United Kingdom Parliament, said that "Israel" is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip, confirming that she has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in this regard.
Webbe told Al Mayadeen that Britain can play a significant role in a ceasefire, wondering the reason the British government is not taking action.
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She highlighted that the overwhelming majority of British society wants a ceasefire, but the political leadership is not responsive, recalling that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the British government do not demand a ceasefire and claim that "Israel" has the right to defend itself.
Getting a free pass for crime
Katie Fallon, CAAT advocacy coordinator, relayed to Anadolu that the UK "is materially and actually contributing to the hell on earth that's happening in Gaza right now".
"With the components that are being used in deaths that are dropping bombs, with the range of different other types of equipment, but the second kind of part of that is this military support is an indication of the political support that we've seen," she said, adding that confirmation of violations has already been received from civil society organizations, including Human Rights Watch (HRW).
"What the law says is that if there's a risk that they may facilitate or contribute to these violations, then we have to start so we believe we're well past that threshold and that the government needs to immediately stop issuing licenses, halt all new licenses, and particularly end any open licenses that are used to supply arms to Israel," she stressed.
CAAT's demand, she said, is for an immediate ceasefire and a halt to arms exports.
