What value a Palestinian civilian life? For Britain’s political establishment, the answer is precious little. Revulsion at the slaughter of Israeli civilians – partygoers, kibbutzniks, children, elderly people – at the hands of Hamas is a moral imperative. Tragic, then, that the righteous consensus over the sanctity of life ends at Israel’s borders. Both the Conservative government and Labour opposition have become supporters of wanton violations of the Geneva conventions, war crimes and ethnic cleansing.
As Rishi Sunak offers Israel “unequivocal” support, it is worth unpacking what that means. In the last nine days, at least 2,750 Palestinians have perished under Israeli bombs, about a quarter of them children, according to the Gaza health ministry. Not a word of grief or regret from our prime minister: their slaughter, presumably, is subsumed into what he describes as Israel’s “every right to defend itself”. No condemnation of the bombing of ambulances and electricity-deprived hospitals, or of the killing of medics, journalists and UN officials.
Sunak’s only words of caution were to call on Israeli forces to “avoid harming civilians”. A useless gesture: the Israeli state he has declared full support for is hardly being subtle about its intentions. “The emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy,” say the Israel Defence Forces. Sunak will be aware that the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, proclaimed: “We are fighting human animals” as he ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza with “no electricity, no food, no fuel”, adding that Israel intends to “eliminate everything”.
Now is the time for Sunak to familiarise himself with article 33 of the Geneva conventions, on collective punishment, which decrees that “no protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed”. The consequence of a siege de facto endorsed by our government? Gaza is “running dry”, declares the UN agency for Palestine refugees, and in the schools where many have sought shelter “clean water has actually run out”.
When civilian populations were driven from their homes with the threat of violence in the Balkans in the 1990s, it was termed “ethnic cleansing”, and the west went to war over it. This time, the UK stands “unequivocally” with Israel as it orders people in Gaza to flee their homes en masse, described by the Norwegian Refugee Council as “the war crime of forcible transfer”, while Francesca Albanese, the UN special raporteur on the Palestinian territories, warns of mass ethnic cleansing.
After thousands marched in London against these undisputed war crimes, we heard a counterblast familiar in moments such as this: where are your demonstrations against Hamas’s atrocities? Hamas’s killings have been roundly denounced. And Hamas is not armed or backed by the British state and its allies. Alongside invaluable diplomatic cover, the UK has licensed at least £442m worth of arms to Israel since 2015, while our chief ally, the US, provides about $3bn in military assistance each year. As the Conservative MP Crispin Blunt rightly says of Britain’s support for Israel’s invasions of Gaza: “The fact of being complicit makes you equally guilty to the party carrying out the crime.”
And what of our Labour opposition, led by former human rights lawyer Keir Starmer? After all, in his leadership campaign, pledge number four was “no more illegal wars” and to “put human rights at the heart of foreign policy”. Of all the pledges he has now broken, this is the most unforgivable. On national radio, he declared that Israel “has the right” to cut water and energy from a civilian population, while emphasising his respect for international law. Given his vocation, Starmer is either incompetent or dishonest: such a siege is by definition illegal. Starmer condemned the strike on al-Ahli hospital (for which both sides are blaming the other), saying that the resultant deaths “cannot be justified”. He once again cited international laws that he was happy to bend when it came to the siege.
His attorney general, Emily Thornberry, is similarly a lawyer with no ignorance to plead: yet on national television she refused to condemn the illegality of cutting off food and electricity. The shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, refuses to answer whether he supports Israel’s orders for people in Gaza to leave. A Labour briefing sent to MPs answers the question “What is Labour’s position on reports that Israel has been using white phosphorus?” – an illegal act if used against a civilian population – with “We support Israel’s right to defend itself and rescue hostages”, along with a seemingly contradictory confirmation that international law must be respected. They broadcast their complicity, while silencing any dissenters: this weekend, Labour MPs and councillors were cautioned against attending the march protesting at this massacre.
No wonder Labour councillors are resigning across the country, citing their party “effectively endorsing a war crime”. Last week, Young Labour BAME officer Lubaba Khalid resigned. Three days later, she reported that her cousin – a young girl – died in an Israeli strike.
As the horror mounts, Labour leaders issue feeble statements about how “Israel’s defence must be in line with international law”, when they know full well that it isn’t, and that they helped offer a green light for this criminality. For years, these preening so-called moderates issued liberal platitudes about a “rules-based order”. Their right to assert a moral high ground has perished for ever. If they will not speak out against a blockade of Gaza, they will be endorsing what the international criminal court’s founding prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, says “could be considered a crime against humanity and a genocide”.
These war crimes may have the blessing of our political establishment, but expect an ever-growing backlash from a public that hasn’t forgotten previous calamities endorsed by our leaders. It was a Labour government, backed unstintingly by the Tories, that brought us the calamitous military adventures after September 11, justified – like Israel’s attacks – as self-defence.
The consequences? Up to 4.7 million deaths, and for what? Our failure to hold politicians to account is what allows these horrors to endlessly repeat. Don’t let it happen again. There isn’t even the pretence that a Palestinian life has equal worth to an Israeli or British civilian. But their lives do matter, and those who condemn children to perish under rubble should be damned for ever.
• This article was amended on 18 October 2023 because an earlier version referred to David Lammy as the foreign secretary, when he holds that position in the shadow cabinet.
Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist
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