UK politicians call for sanctions on Israel as Starmer's Gaza legacy slammed
Over 80 British MPs and lords have called on their government to impose comprehensive sanctions on Israel, as a collection of charities slammed outgoing prime minister Keir Starmer's legacy on Palestine.
In a letter to the UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, the politicians urge the government to act “in line with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on Israel”.
This Sunday, 19 July, will mark two years since the ICJ found that Israel’s decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories was “unlawful”, and that its “near-complete separation” of people in the occupied West Bank breached international laws concerning “racial segregation” and “apartheid”.
“We urge the government to impose sanctions and other concrete measures to uphold its legal obligations under this ruling and wider international law,” the letter’s signatories, led by Labour MPs Imran Hussain and Richard Burgon, write.
On Wednesday, 17 British charities urged Andy Burnham, who is set to take over as prime minister from Starmer, “to take action to end Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians”.
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The charities, including Save the Children UK, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Islamic Relief and Amnesty International UK, said in a statement that Burnham must “take decisive action on Gaza and the occupied West Bank, warning that Palestinians cannot afford further political inaction”.
Assessing Starmer's legacy on Palestine, Save the Children UK said: "History will remember your complicity."
The charity added: “Despite a partial arms suspension in 2024, Keir Starmer’s government has continued to enable Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians, their families and children through the supply of F-35 fighter jet parts.”
Israel deepens its occupation
Since the ICJ’s advisory opinion in July 2024, the politicians who signed the letter to Cooper - including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Green Party MPs Sian Berry and Hannah Spencer, New Labour minister Lord Peter Hain and Jewish Kindertransport refugee Lord Alf Dubs - say that Israel has “deepened its illegal occupation”.
'The hope is that the incoming prime minister recognises that the UK government has a duty to act'
- John McDonnell, Labour MP
Another signatory to the letter, former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell, told MEE: “The Netanyahu government clearly believes it can act with impunity as it destroys any hope of a two-state solution with its total annexation of the West Bank.
"The hope is that the incoming prime minister recognises that the UK government has a duty to act.”
Israel now controls over 60 percent of Gaza, which it has largely destroyed during its genocide. It has pushed further into Syria and into southern Lebanon under the pretext of fighting Hezbollah.
Israel has also intensified its annexationist measures in the West Bank, including by approving plans to register land there as Israeli state property.
In September last year, Israel’s finance minister and de facto “governor” of the West Bank, Bezalel Smotrich, unveiled a controversial plan to annex the vast majority of the occupied Palestinian territory.
Smotrich, a far-right settler himself, proposed absorbing 82 percent of the West Bank into Israel, a move that would effectively eliminate the prospect of a future Palestinian state. He described the principle behind the plan as taking control of “maximum land with minimum [Palestinian] population”.
In the letter to Yvette Cooper, the MPs and peers write that Israel’s actions over the past two years “underline how, without much bolder action, the Israeli government will continue to simply ignore the words of condemnation from political leaders and governments and deepen its illegal occupation”.
The ICJ is clear that all states have an obligation to recognise the illegality of the occupation and to not enter into "economic or trade dealings with Israel".
The letter states that, “despite acknowledging the Court’s findings”, the British government has “not formally responded or taken the steps required to meet its legal and moral obligations”.
“The government knows what needs to be done,” the letter continues. “It has rightly imposed widespread sanctions on Russia for its illegal war on Ukraine. Yet there has been no such comprehensive response to Israel’s unlawful occupation as it does elsewhere.”
The British politicians urge their government to ban all trade with illegal Israeli settlements, act against companies profiting from occupation, impose targeted sanctions, suspend the UK-Israel trade agreement, and end all arms transfers to Israel, including components for F-35 jets.
Andy Burnham, Israel and Gaza
The letter comes at a time when Burnham, who is set to take over as prime minster next week, is under scrutiny over his position on Israel and Palestine.
The former New Labour minister has apologised for Labour’s response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, saying his party “didn’t get it right” and that it must now do more.
'Almost three years into Israel's genocide in Gaza, the need for action could not be clearer. The UK's obligations under international law are clear'
- Halla Keir, Medical Aid for Palestinians
“I know many people feel that at the start of Israel’s military action in Gaza, my party didn’t get it right, and I am sorry about that. The response has too often not been good enough. We need to do better,” he said.
Burnham referred to the “unbearable suffering” in Gaza, calling it a “scar on our collective conscience”. He also criticised Israel's ever-expanding occupation of territory in Gaza, adding: “We’ve got to do more to put pressure on the Israeli government.”
The prime-minister-in-waiting applauded Starmer’s government for recognising Palestine, imposing sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers, and imposing a ban on “British bombs and or bullets” going to Israel.
“We have taken some important steps,” Burnham said. “But let’s be honest, the UK was too slow to call for a ceasefire. And we must now do more to strengthen our approach.”
Cooper, too, has shifted her rhetoric recently, admitting that Labour’s early response to Gaza was wrong. But a shift in tone may not herald a meaningful shift in policy.
“Every new prime minister inherits difficult decisions. But this should not be one of them,” Halla Keir, advocacy and research manager at Medical Aid for Palestinians, said in reference to Britain taking action to curb Israel.
“Almost three years into Israel's genocide in Gaza, the need for action could not be clearer. The UK's obligations under international law are clear. What is needed now is the political courage to act.”
“Nothing can change the horrors Palestinians have faced,” Save the Children UK said. “But the next prime minister has an opportunity to put an end to the UK government’s role as an ally to atrocities.”
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