Law Experts Warn British Government for Supporting War Crimes

News:

More than 250 British lawyers, including eminent KCs and professors of law, have called on the UK government to press for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, said on Thursday that the government was pushing for “pauses” in the bombardment, but did not support a “wider ceasefire”.

Opposition leader Keir Starmer is also facing mounting pressure, as nearly a quarter of Labour MPs have called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The lawyers also urge the government to stop the sales of arms to Israel, which may be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law.

The atrocities committed by Hamas were a serious breach of international law, it says, but the letter adds: “The commission by one party to a conflict – including an armed group – of serious violations of international humanitarian law does not, however, justify their commission by another party.”

The “sheer scale of the loss of life and injury in Gaza, particularly to women and children, with the widespread damage to civilian objects and infrastructure”, indicates clear violations of international humanitarian law.

The letter cites statements by senior Israeli government and army officials, such as Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, declaring that he has “released all restraints”, that the Israeli military are “fighting human animals and will act accordingly”, and that the plan is to “eliminate everything”. The letter says: “Such statements indicate an intention not to be bound by the fundamental principles of international law, and an intention to engage in unlawful collective punishment.”

Stephen Kamlish KC, another signatory to the letter, said Israel’s response to Hamas atrocities “may amount to war crimes”. (Source: The Guardian)

Comment:

When Tony Blair wanted to join America’s war on Iraq his government, like the Americans, invented evidence of weapons of mass destruction to justify their desired invasion. Three million people in London marched to stop the war, but the government didn’t care and didn’t listen. They have a long history of committing war crimes, secure in the knowledge that their own International Criminal Courts will never bring them to justice. As long as there is a hegemony of Western democracies in the world, the democratic war-lords will never be called to account.

The world urgently needs the Khilafah (Caliphate) to stop these blood thirsty criminals from inflicting their wars and genocides on the innocent.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Yahya Nisbet
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain