Tell us if Israel is breaking law, urge Labour
Government pressured to reveal officials’ legal advice as calls grow for Britain to impose arms sales ban
‘This has happened in the past under Thatcher and Brown. There is precedent’
‘I have been clear with Netanyahu that Israel must defend itself in accordance with the law’
THE Government must publish advice about whether Israel has broken international law in Gaza, Labour has demanded, as pressure builds for an arms sale ban.
David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, and Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, made the call after three British aid workers were killed in an Israeli strike on a convoy carrying food aid in Gaza.
James Henderson, 33, John Chapman, 57, and James Kirby, 47, were killed when the Israeli Defense Forces bombed a humanitarian convoy of three vehicles on Monday.
They were all former servicemen overseeing security for the World Central Kitchen aid organisation which has been bringing in supplies by sea from Cyprus.
Four other aid workers were killed in the air strikes, which the IDF has said were an accident and for which Israel has apologised.
The Liberal Democrats have gone further than Labour by demanding an immediate suspension of arms sales to Israel.
And the SNP has called for Parliament to be recalled from its Easter recess to debate the issue.
Lord Ricketts, a former UK national security adviser, also called for arms exports to be suspended.
The former senior diplomat, who served under Tony Blair’s government, said that there is now enough evidence that Israel is “not paying attention to its international humanitarian law obligations”.
The Foreign Office is continuing to weigh up its legal advice about whether the Israeli government and military are failing to show a strong enough commitment to international humanitarian law in their continuing military action in Gaza.
If Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, concludes that is the case, the Department for Business and Trade will be told to block arms exports from the UK to Israel.
Despite reassurances to parliamentarians a month ago from Lord Cameron that MPS would be told of any change in position, no public statement has yet been forthcoming.
Submissions by Foreign Office officials about whether Israel is breaching the requirements are understood to have been made in both January and February.
Mr Lammy said yesterday: “I have now been calling for 12 days for David Cameron to publish the legal advice so that we are clear on whether Israel has contravened international humanitarian law, and therefore arms sales should be suspended.
“This has happened in the past, it happened under the Margaret Thatcher administration, and it happened under Gordon Brown’s administration, so there is precedent.
“But it is important now that that advice is published so that we can all be clear that if there has been a breach in international humanitarian law, and I must say that I do have very serious concerns, that arms sales are suspended.”
Ms Reeves said: “We have urged the Government to urgently publish any reports that they have on the abidance with international law.
“The international law is clear that where arms sales are at risk of being used for purposes which are not consistent with international law, they shouldn’t happen.
“That is why now we are asking the Government to urgently publish the evidence that they have.”
Rishi Sunak said yesterday that he has “been consistently clear” with Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, that he must protect civilian lives while the military action which began after Hamas’s Oct 7 atrocities continues in Gaza.
The Prime Minister told The Sun: “I think that we’ve always had a very careful export licensing regime that we adhere to.
“There are a set of rules, regulations and procedures that we’ll always follow.
“I have been consistently clear with prime minister Netanyahu since the start of this conflict that while of course we defend Israel’s right to defend itself and its people against attacks from Hamas, they have to do that in accordance with international humanitarian law.
“Get more aid into Gaza. That’s what we’ve consistently called for.
“And what we want to see actually is an immediate humanitarian pause to allow more aid in, and crucially the hostages to be released, and that’s what we’ll continue to push for.”
A Foreign Office source said legal advice is not routinely published by the Government.