https://arab.news/5ddcc
- Experts in international law, medicine, history, politics, journalism speak at unofficial inquiry
- ‘We’ve given history a repository of how British complicity has been designed,’ says co-chair
LONDON: Experts in the fields of international law, medicine, history, politics and journalism have unanimously condemned UK policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at the Gaza Tribunal, which took place in London on Sept. 4-5.
The tribunal was chaired by independent MP Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the governing Labour Party.
Speakers examined allegations of genocide and war crimes against Israel, and the UK’s potential complicity in them.
At the conclusion of the tribunal on Friday, experts condemned British complicity, including through regular weapons supplies to Israel and the use of surveillance flights over Gaza, through which intelligence is shared with the Israeli military.
Shahd Hammouri, a lecturer in international law and one of the co-chairs of the tribunal, said: “We’ve seen the evidence, the blood on their hands. Accountability is coming. We’ve given history a repository of how British complicity has been designed.”
Former British diplomat Mark Smith addressed the tribunal via videolink. He resigned from the Foreign Office in August 2024 in protest against the UK’s continued arms trade with Israel, and was the lead official on an arms export licensing report.
The investigation led by Smith sought to “assess whether the government is legally compliant in exporting arms to certain countries,” he said, adding that such reports are typically commissioned “when a given country is involved in armed conflict.”
Smith described the working culture at the office as “very strange” and “different to anything I’ve ever experienced in the civil service.”
He said: “Everyone wanted to make it look as though we were on the right side of the law, and any kind of suggestion (otherwise) tended to be met with panic and a kind of extreme pressure to not talk about that.”
Former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Guillaume Long, an adviser at the Hague Group — the global bloc formed to uphold the International Court of Justice’s rulings on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — condemned what he described as British double standards toward the Gaza war.
The UK has launched significant financial and trade sanctions against Russia, Syria, China and Belarus, now and in the past, but has failed to do so against Israel, “a state currently committing genocide,” he told the tribunal.
“What the UK is doing by ignoring obligations to international law is contributing to the erosion of international law and the erosion of the global social contract.”
He said Britain is in “many regards complicit” in what has taken place in Gaza since October 2023.
Tayab Ali, head of the International Center of Justice for Palestinians, proposed 12 recommendations for the UK to follow in the wake of the tribunal’s findings.
These include the imposition of a total arms embargo on Israel, an end to surveillance flights, a suspension of intelligence sharing, the cancelation of trade agreements and the sanctioning of members of the country’s political class.
The tribunal ended with remarks from Corbyn and the two co-chairs, Hammouri and Neve Gordon, an Israeli peace activist and professor of human rights law at Queen Mary University in London.
Hammouri said: “We live in a world that says that we do have laws. In England, we say this country abides by international humanitarian law.”
She added: “And yet, we forget that there’s a twist there of absolute hypocrisy. How do you commit a livestreamed genocide and still (say) they’re the barbarians, not us?
“We heard horrifying testimonies confirming and affirming the worst that we can ever imagine — accounts that bring to mind untold sorrow. Our job is to ensure truth comes in the present, that accountability doesn’t arrive too late.” She concluded by saying: “The truth will be revealed and justice will prevail.”
Gordon said Britain’s position toward Israel and the Gaza war is based on the “politics of deception,” adding: “We know that the UK government is listening to Israel. We know that the UK government hasn’t opened its doors to the Palestinians. The doors are locked to them but open to the Israelis.”
The UK government has consistently violated its legal obligations in failing to adapt its stance toward Israel amid the Gaza war, he said.
The tribunal’s organizers will now write a joint report on the testimonies heard at the event. The report will be submitted to the government for review.
Corbyn, speaking at the tribunal’s closure, said speakers had exposed truths that are being hidden by the British government and a compliant media.
“I want to say a particular thank you to the Palestinian speakers who’ve been with us the past few days,” he added.
“They have families that are suffering, and they feel a sense of security in being out of the fighting going on in Gaza, but also feel the sense of a need to be there with their friends and family.”