The Labour government’s suspension of trade talks with Israel is too little too late. Keir Starmer and David Lammy should be in the Hague.
The UK government announced yesterday that it would suspend free trade talks with Israel, as David Lammy condemned in parliament the “monstrous” situation in Gaza.
Three illegal settlers in the West Bank were also sanctioned by the Foreign Office. Those included Daniella Weiss, the settler leader who featured in Louis Theroux’s recent BBC documentary The Settlers.
“I find this deeply painful as a lifelong friend of Israel and a believer in the values expressed in its declaration of independence”, Lammy declared in the Commons.
The first signs of a shift in the UK government’s tone came on Monday night, when Keir Starmer, French president Emmanuel Macron, and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney issued a joint statement on the Middle East.
“We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza. The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable. Yesterday’s announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza is wholly inadequate”, they declared.
The immediate background to these developments was the escalation in Israel’s bombardment, siege, and starvation of Gaza, with the United Nations warning on Tuesday that 14,000 babies could die within 48 hours if aid did not reach them in time.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to pre-empt international condemnation over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza by allowing a minuscule amount of aid into the strip.
“We’re going to take control of all the Gaza strip”, he announced on Monday. “Our best friends in the world – [US] senators I know as strong supporters of Israel – have warned that they cannot support us if images of mass starvation emerge”. (more...)
The Blood of Gaza Will Never Wash From Keir Starmer’s Hands
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