- Outgoing Foreign Secretary issues statement explaining why UK has not suspended sales of parts for F-35 fighter jet programme
- Activists called the government’s position “grotesque” and “horrible” in an interview with Arab News
LONDON: Campaigners have condemned Britain’s outgoing foreign secretary’s claim that there does not appear to be genocide taking place in Gaza.
David Lammy responded to Sarah Champion MP, chair of the International Development Committee, who asked him how the UK’s policy on supplying parts for F-35 fighter jets was consistent with its duty to prevent genocide, given that the jets are used by the Israeli military.
In a letter, Lammy responded: “Under the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only when there is specific ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group’. The Government has not concluded that Israel is acting with such intent.”
He said the war was “absolutely horrific” but the government had “carefully considered” whether genocide was taking place.
Lammy condemned the actions of the Israeli military and said they “must do much more to prevent and alleviate the suffering this conflict is causing.”
His response provoked a furious reaction from activists and experts. Ben Jamal, head of the Solidarity with Palestine campaign, told Arab News: “The government’s statement is based on something truly grotesque. It is basically saying that until it is conclusively proven that this is genocide – and they know that will take years – we are not obliged to act on the basis of the desire to prevent genocide.”
Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, called the wording of Lammy’s letter “a spurious legal term”.
He told Arab News that “the wording here is very important,” noting that Lammy had stopped short of saying outright that no genocide was taking place, which was “very important because it gives them room to maneuver” and allows the burden of final judgment to be shifted to the courts.
In May, Middle East Secretary Hamish Falconer told MPs: “The UK government has long held the position that any formal determination of whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent court, not for governments or non-judicial bodies.”
Lammy added to Falconer’s statement: “This government is not an international court. We were not – and could not be – arbiters on whether Israel had violated international humanitarian law.”
But Doyle said: “The evidence is overwhelming. The hunger, the lack of food, drink, water, electricity and the (Israeli) military action in Gaza… It’s a truly outrageous position for the government.”
Lammy’s letter marks the first time Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has publicly said it may not consider the Gaza war to be genocide.
Jamal said this could undermine Starmer’s credibility on the Gaza issue. “He is a former international human rights lawyer who gave evidence at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to try to get them to recognise the reality of another genocide (committed by Serbia against Croatia in the 1990s). So you have to assume that he actually knows the definition of genocide,” Jamal added.
“This is not ignorance on the part of Keir Starmer. He must presumably know perfectly well what the Convention says about genocide and how it works.
“But this is akin to his grotesque remarks as a former human rights lawyer in the first week after October 7, when Israel declared a total siege on Gaza, that Israel had the right to cut off food, water and basic necessities to the people of Gaza.
“He knew perfectly well that under international law they had no such right, but at that moment his political imperative was not to feel any accusation that he was not completely, totally ardent in his support for Israel.”
Doyle warned that Lammy’s statement would have further implications for the domestic debate over Gaza.
“This will have a negative impact on public opinion, on the opinion of MPs and many others who see this as proof that the government is not serious about what is happening in Gaza,” he said.