Yvette Cooper condanna “spaventoso” offensiva israeliana a Gaza City

[removed]

In case people are unaware (and I don’t think the media are helping here) we have a trade agreement, security arrangement, arms trade, and 2030 roadmap with Israel still in place.

A UN body has said today they have passed the legal threshold for genocide, that countries are obligated by their commitments to the genocide convention to ‘cease assistance’ and to ‘punish’ Israel for this.

Currently we have several aforementioned agreements that offer Israel preferential treatment in their relationship with the UK. We absolutely have to end these, for moral reasons, yes; but we also simply have a legal responsibility to do so—or we could be found to assisting that act.

Additionally, Israel was also found to be committing the crime of apartheid last year by the ICJ: the government hasn’t even responded to it, over a year later. Even a few months ago David Lammy was saying they were working on it; it is simply not believable. He also said a week or two ago that he did not believe Israel has genocidal intent; yet he has failed to present himself to scrutiny on that.

Our sanctions so far have been pathetic. We have sanctions 2 ministers, some settlers/settlers organisations, suspended 10% of arms licenses, merely paused a *new* trade agreement (old one is still active), and told the IDF that we won’t train their soldiers at our elite school anymore (the ones currently there can stay though, it’s only starting next year).

Absolutely nothing has touched these key arrangements in trade and security, or the 2030 roadmap.

Much of the cabinet are members of ‘Labour friends of Israel’ (12/27 cabinet members), Starmer has just appointed the former chair of LFI to his office, presumably they consider these things lasting achievements and are refusing to damage them. That position is completely untenable and it is monstrous to continue preferential treatment to a genocidal state.