Rights group urges UK to use ‘all tools at its disposal’ against Israel
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has welcomed the UK government’s actions against Israel over its conduct during the war on Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
“In the face of ongoing genocidal acts, the UK suspending trade talks and committing to review cooperation with Israel are important and necessary steps. All states have an obligation to use all diplomatic and other levers at their disposal to prevent the extermination of the Palestinian people,” said Yasmine Ahmed, UK director at HRW.
“However, as Israel continues to carry out mass atrocities, the UK must be ready to unleash all the tools at its disposal, including sanctions against high-level Israeli officials and a full and comprehensive arms embargo including F-35 fighter jet components. Nothing short of this is sufficient or justifiable in the face of the possible annihilation of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Anti-weapons group denounces UK action on Israel
Emily Apple, media coordinator at the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), has taken the UK government to task for doing “too little, too late” with its moves against Israel over the war on Gaza and attacks on the occupied West Bank.
“This was [Foreign Secretary] Lammy’s opportunity to announce a full two-way arms embargo, and to end the exemption for F-35 combat aircraft components – aircraft that Israel is using to drop 2000lb [907kg] bombs on civilians in Gaza. He failed to do so, and he therefore failed to take the most meaningful action he could take to end the UK’s complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” said Apple.
Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer called Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely into the Foreign Office to set out the UK’s opposition to Israel’s 11-week blockade on aid into Gaza, and Israel’s escalation of military activity.
“I made clear the UK’s opposition to expanded military operations in Gaza and rising violence and intimidation by Israeli settlers against Palestinian communities in the West Bank. The UK will not stand by as this happens,” Falconer posted on X after speaking with the ambassador.
Western actions to pressure Israel ‘nowhere near enough’
DAWN MENA, an NGO promoting democracy and the rule of law in the Middle East, says the threat of sanctions on Israel by the UK, France, and Canada, as well as the UK’s announcement of sanctions on Israeli settler networks, are a positive step but insufficient on their own to exert real pressure on Israel to end its war in Gaza.
“Imposing sanctions on settler outposts and violent extremists in the West Bank is a step in the right direction, but it’s nowhere near enough to address the grave atrocities Israeli authorities are committing every day, every hour, every minute against Palestinians in Gaza,” Sarah Leah Whitson DAWN’s executive director, said in a statement.
“The UK, France and Canada, together with the broader international community, must take immediate and concrete actions to stop the genocide and mass starvation in Gaza as a matter of fundamental moral and legal responsibility.”
