THE Foreign Secretary has been challenged on whether he will sanction an Israeli politician found guilty of illegally using Palestinians as human shields – after he met with him at the Labour conference.
Yair Golan, the leader of Israel’s newly formed Democrats party and a reserve aluf (general) in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), was invited to the Labour conference by the Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) lobby group.
The invite came despite Golan having been named in the South African submission to the UN “relating to the State of Israel’s intent and incitement to commit genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza” – as well as having been found guilty of ordering the use of Palestinians as human shields in 2007.
In the South African submission, it states: “On 13 October 2023, Reserve Major General Yair Golan was quoted by the Israeli press as stating that: ‘We should tell them: listen, until [the hostages are] released, from our side you will starve to death. This is completely legitimate.’”
Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime. It is one of the war crimes which Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant are accused of by the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Karim Khan.
In September, LFI posted an image of Lammy meeting with Golan at their party conference. “It is a pleasure to be joined at #Lab24 by the leader of our Israeli sister party @YairGolan1,” the lobby group wrote.”
It is a pleasure to be joined at #Lab24 by the leader of our Israeli sister party @YairGolan1 Yesterday he met with foreign secretary @DavidLammy This morning he met families of the hostages and will meet Labour MPs. pic.twitter.com/CYxyhZrP5c
— Labour Friends of Israel (@_LFI) September 23, 2024
In further posts, LFI also showed Golan meeting with Minister for the Middle East Hamish Falconer, as well as other Labour MPs.
SNP MP Chris Law challenged Foreign Secretary David Lammy over his meeting with Golan in the Commons.
Law, the MP for Dundee Central, said: “Yair Golan is an Israeli politician who, only last month, attended the Labour Party conference and had meetings with MPs, including photo opportunities with the Foreign Secretary and the Minister for the Middle East.
“Yair Golan is the same Israeli politician who, late last year, said in the Israeli press that starving people to death is ‘completely legitimate’.
“Given that the entire population of northern Gaza is on the brink of dying from famine, as repeatedly described both by members here today and by the under-secretary-general of the United Nations, will the Foreign Secretary sanction Yair Golan, in addition to his already stated aim of considering sanctions against [Israeli finance minister] Bezalel Smotrich for justifying the use of starvation against Palestinians as a weapon of war?”
Responding, Lammy only said that the “issues are being kept under review”.
Law later told The National it was “extraordinary” that Golan had been invited to meet Labour politicians at their conference.
“Those terms were largely used when millions of people lost their lives in crises like Rwanda, the Second World War in the Holocaust, and the way that they are used now undermines the seriousness of that term,” the Foreign Secretary said.
On Monday, Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, reiterated her belief that the ongoing situation amounts to genocide.
Albanese took to social media to highlight work done by Forensic Architecture, who had published an 827-document entitled “A Cartography of Genocide” outlining and mapping Israel’s actions in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
Forensic Architecture [@ForensicArchi] has been meticulously collecting data on/mapping military conduct in Gaza since 7 October 2023. All is collected and made available on the ‘A Cartography of Genocide’ platform and accompanying report. The main findings of this… https://t.co/hOo8aeLeE3
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) October 27, 2024
Albanese wrote: “Forensic Architecture has been meticulously collecting data on/mapping military conduct in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
“All is collected and made available on the ‘A Cartography of Genocide’ platform and accompanying report.
“The main findings of this monumental work is that ‘Israel’s military campaign in Gaza is organised, systematic, and intended to destroy conditions of life and life-sustaining infrastructure’.
“We call it genocide because it is genocide.”
