British Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has been pushing for a hardening of London’s position on Israel for weeks, but his efforts have been met with resistance from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the conservative press’ inclination to be more sympathetic. with the arguments of the Netanyahu government than with the criticism of pro-Palestinian sectors.
The pressure has now increased significantly after the death of three citizens of the United Kingdom (and others from Australia, Canada, Poland and Palestine) in the Israeli drone attack on a humanitarian aid convoy of the American NGO World Central Kitchen, which It could mean a turning point in public opinion perception.
Proof of this is a seventeen-page letter sent to Sunak by no less than six hundred lawyers and legal experts, including three former Supreme Court judges and several more from lower courts, encouraging him to suspend arms sales to Tel Aviv because “it constitutes “a violation of international law given the plausible danger that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and that Britain has a legal obligation to do everything possible to prevent it.”
The letter describes the humanitarian situation as “catastrophic” and asks the Government, in addition to suspending the sale of weapons, to take measures to achieve a ceasefire and the end of obstacles to the entry and distribution of food and other forms of assistance, more in line with the positions defended in the EU by Spain and Ireland.
Lawyers and judges (including the former president of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale) consider that there have recently been “significant changes” that justify a more forceful policy from London towards Israel, such as the provisional orders issued by the International Court of Justice, the raising the official death toll in Gaza to more than 32,000 Palestinians, the threat of imminent famine, the blockade of aid entry, the destruction of hospitals and health centers, the death of humanitarian workers and allegations of torture and humiliating treatment to prisoners.
Despite the open alignment of the Daily Telegraph and conservative media with Netanyahu after the Hamas massacre on October 7, and his justification of the Israeli response, a growing number of conservative politicians demand that Sunak clearly demand a ceasefire and put pressure on Israel by suspending arms sales, even though the UK supplies a very small amount compared to the US, and less than Germany and Italy. Scottish First Minister Humza Yusaf has warned that London could be complicit in the murder of innocent civilians.
