Despite growing pressure and overwhelming evidence, the British government has concluded that Israel is NOT committing a genocide in Gaza, sparking an outpouring of condemnation and dismay.
Britain’s position was clarified by David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary up until a few days ago, in response to questions from the chair of the International Development Committee, Sarah Champion MP, who demanded answers on how Britain’s policy of the continuing to supply F-35 fighter jet parts that have indirectly been sent to Israel complied with its international duty to prevent genocide.
In a letter, dated September 1, Lammy wrote that “the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.'” Adding that: “The government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.”
Lammy, who is now a Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister since Friday’s Cabinet reshuffle, claimed the government had “carefully considered” the question of genocide.
In response to the UK’s denial, activists and politicians blasted No.10 for “genocide denial.”
Independent MP Adnan Hussain said on X: “Not only is the Labour government denying genocide, it is normalising & trivialising genocide. As Israel accelerates its mission of exterminating a whole civilian population, this government looks the other way in denial, & prepares to roll out the red carpet for Herzog. Shame!”
Fellow independent MP, Jeremy Corbyn, simply posted: “This is genocide denial.”
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Pro-Palestine author and activist Andrew Feinstein said: “WTAF! The UK government is so smart that it knows better than the highest court in the world, the vast, vast majority of global genocide experts & almost all human rights organisations. I’m sure this is unrelated to the huge money being made by British arms firms & our political class out of the genocide, or that Keir Starmer is, in his own words, ‘a Zionist without qualification.’”
Elsewhere, independent MP Shockat Adam said: “As bombs rain on Gaza & famine ravages, 51 Israeli arms makers are set to showcase at London’s DSEI arms fair. Meanwhile, news emerges of Labour ministers considering to roll out the red carpet for the genocidal Israeli govt’s President Herzog. Bloodstained business as usual.”
Despite the UK government’s denial of the genocide, Lammy did admit that Israel “must do much more” to prevent and alleviate the suffering of Palestinians.
“The high civilian casualties, including women and children, and the extensive destruction in Gaza, are utterly appalling,” he wrote.
“Israel must do much more to prevent and alleviate the suffering that this conflict is causing.”
Growing evidence of genocide
The UK’s Israel genocide denial comes shortly after a resolution was passed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), the world’s leading association of genocide scholars, stating that Israel’s conduct in Gaza meets the legal definition as laid out in the UN convention on genocide.
The IAGS resolution was backed by hundreds of experts and recognised the statements by Israeli leaders dehumanising Palestinians in Gaza and characterising them all collectively as the enemy, alongside promises to “flatten Gaza” and turn it into “hell,” as evidence to back up their ruling.
Several other prominent human rights groups have also described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
In August, some 500 UN staff members published an internal letter pleading that their leadership acknowledge the genocide going on in Gaza by Israel.
The staff members at the New York-based Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) argued in the letter that failure to do so would undermine the UN’s credibility.
The UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice, is currently considering a case brought by South Africa in 2023 that argues that Israel is committing genocide. The ICJ has not yet made a determination on the subject and has granted Israel an extension until January 2026 to present its defence.
Israel has accused the case of having antisemitic motivations, calling it a “blood libel.”
Gaza killing fields
Every day, Israel is killing scores of Palestinians inside Gaza, either via direct military attacks or indirectly via the Israeli imposed siege which is starving the population.
Six more Palestinians died of starvation and severe malnutrition in Gaza in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
The new fatalities brought the famine-related deaths since October 2023 to 399, including 140 children, the ministry said in a statement.
Israel has killed more than 64,500 Palestinians in a brutal offensive in Gaza since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, laying waste to most of its infrastructure.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
The UK’s denial of genocide has angered many due to the government’s unwillingness to acknowledge the overwhelming evidence as images, videos and eyewitness accounts from brave Palestinian journalists of Israel’s indiscriminate warfare.
The UK is a long-time ally of Israel and has a history of defending Israel politically, economically and militarily amid the ongoing Zionist settler plot to capture or conquer native Palestinian land.
