THE UK must cease all military and political support for Israeli forces in Gaza as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) prepares to hear a genocide case against the nation’s government, the Greens have said.
The calls come at the start of two days of hearings in South Africa’s case against Israel under the Genocide Convention, which defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Tuesday night that they are a “moral military committed to international law”. “Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza,” a spokesperson said.
The most recent round of conflict in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, which saw 1139 people killed and some 240 taken hostage. Israeli attacks on Gaza have since killed 23,357 and wounded more than 59,000, according to the health ministry there.
South Africa’s justice minister, Ronald Lamola, has insisted that Israel is behind “the genocide that is currently taking place in Gaza”.
He added: “We are most encouraged by leaders of the world who have not blunted their consciousness and have stood on the right side of history by supporting a case that seeks to protect the rights of human beings, regardless of their nationality or ethnicity.”
One of the leaders of Ireland’s coalition government, Irish Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, has said there are “irrefutable” points in South Africa’s legal action, but UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said he does not think the case is “right”.
However, appearing before MPs on Tuesday, Cameron (below) did say he was “worried” Israel may have breached international law. He further called on Israel to turn the water on in Gaza, but refused to say if turning it off in the first place had amounted to a war crime.
Ahead of the hearings at Den Haag on Thursday, the Scottish Greens pointed to UK Government statistics, compiled by Campaign Against Arms Trade, which show that the UK has licensed at least £486 million worth of arms sales to Israel in the last 10 years.
The party’s external affairs spokesperson, Ross Greer MSP, said: “Israel’s bombardment and war against Gaza has killed thousands of Palestinian children and created a horrifying humanitarian crisis. Israel has used food, water and electricity as weapons in its war, all within plain sight.
“Nobody can claim ignorance. Senior Israeli politicians have been genocidal in their language and open in their calls for ethnic cleansing. It is no accident that they have forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes and then destroyed those neighbourhoods, making it impossible to return.
“One reason the killing has continued is because of the complicity of governments around the world, including the UK. Rishi Sunak has offered uncritical political and military support and given Israel a blank cheque for war crimes.”
On Tuesday, SNP MP Tommy Sheppard wrote to the Foreign Secretary raising concerns about the “genocidal” language from Israeli ministers and diplomats. Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely had told LBC the previous week that “every school, every mosque, every second house” in Gaza is a legitimate target for the Israeli military.
On Wednesday, the SNP highlighted a YouGov poll for Medical Aid for Palestinians which found that 71% of the British public think there should definitely (48%) or probably (23%) be an immediate ceasefire in Gaza – something both Labour and the Tories oppose.
Brendan O’Hara (below), the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesperson, called Westminster a “broken system” out of touch with public opinion.
The MP said: “With Westminster so clearly out of step on public opinion over a matter integral to our collective moral compass, it can, in no way, claim to be representative of Scotland or Britain as a whole.
“It’s a broken system when 71% of the population support a stance as important as this, yet Westminster’s two biggest parties ignore it in favour of their own morally-bankrupt stance in support of more suffering and death.
“The situation in Gaza is a desperate one that becomes more bloody and gruesome by the day. We all have a moral duty to stand against more bloodshed and call for an immediate ceasefire.”
The ICJ at Den Haag will hear evidence in South Africa’s case against Israel on January 11 and 12.
A provisional ruling from the United Nations’ highest court is expected within weeks, but a final ruling may take years.
The court could place a measure on Israel telling it to end the onslaught in Gaza. Its rulings are final, but it has no authority to enforce them.
The case will be heard by 15 judges from 15 different nations including the US, Japan, Brazil, France, China, and Russia. One judge from both South Africa and Israel will also hear the case.
