A note from Stuart Gang of Slingerlands:
Funny how this is not being reported by the mainstream media. Wonder why. And the concern about high civilian casualties is the result of Hamas propaganda which the media rarely mentions does not distinguish between terrorists and actual innocent civilians (although much of the Gazan population has aided Hamas and sides with Hamas’s aim to wipe Israel off the map, and per its jihad mission, kill as many Jews as possible.) Israel is criticized for everything it does while there is not much talk about Hamas and how it uses human shields and is starving the remaining hostages.
When demanding Israel cater to Hamas, Britain should ask itself if it ever once considered supplying humanitarian aid to the Nazis during World War II. If that progressive peace advancing thought never occurred to them, they should keep a stiff upper lip and not criticize a country and a people fighting for its survival as they were doing during WWII. How quickly the Brits forget.
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Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza, government concludes
A letter from David Lammy, sent when he was foreign secretary, says the war does not meet the criteria, though he calls Israeli bombing ‘utterly appalling’
Matt Dathan, Home Affairs Editor | Alex Farber
Monday September 08 2025, 8.15pm BST, The Times
The UK does not consider Israel’s actions in Gaza to be genocide, David Lammy has said in a significant shift in position on the issue.
Until last week the UK government had maintained that the question of whether Israel had committed genocide was a matter for the courts and not for national governments to determine.
However, in a letter to the chair of the international development committee last week Lammy said that an assessment carried out by the Foreign Office had concluded that Israel’s actions did not constitute genocide.
The letter, sent before he was replaced as foreign secretary in the cabinet reshuffle, said: “As per the Genocide Convention, 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’. The government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.”
It is the first time the UK government has explicitly said that it does not consider what is happening in Gaza to be a genocide.
In May, Hamish Falconer, the minister for the Middle East, told MPs: “It is the UK government’s long-standing position that any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent court, not for governments or non-judicial bodies.”
Lammy said last year: “This government is not an international court. We have not — and could not — arbitrate on whether or not Israel has breached international humanitarian law.”
His letter was in response to a strongly worded letter from Sarah Champion, chair of the international development committee, who demanded answers on how the UK’s policy of continuing to supply parts for F-35 fighter jets that have indirectly been sent to Israel complied with its international duty to prevent genocide.
This is a crucial period of diplomacy in the Israel-Gaza war for Sir Keir Starmer, who is set to recognise the state of Palestine later this month unless Israel meets strict conditions.
On Monday the prime minister met Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, in Downing Street and on Wednesday he will welcome the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog.
Tensions have been heightened following a rush-hour shooting on Monday in Jerusalem, the deadliest terrorist attack in the city in recent years, in which six people were killed.
In his response to Champion, Lammy, who became justice secretary and deputy prime minister in Starmer’s reshuffle, said the government had “carefully considered” the question of genocide.
He said that despite the government’s conclusion, Israel’s actions in Gaza had been “utterly appalling” given the high number of civilian casualties including women and children and the “extensive destruction” caused. Lammy said Israel “must do much more to prevent and alleviate the suffering that this conflict is causing”.
Lammy said that the Foreign Office had carried out several assessments on the question of genocide, including when the government decided to exempt British-made parts for the F-35 jet from the suspension of 30 arms export licences to Israel.
The UK government suspended export licences to Israel last September because of a risk of British-made weaponry being used in violations of international law in Gaza. However, it exempted the supply of British-made components for the US-produced F-35 fighter jets because it was part of a wider Nato defence programme crucial for maintaining international peace.
More than 1,300 entertainment industry professionals, including A-list actors and directors, have signed a pledge refusing to work with Israeli film institutions which they say are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”.
Olivia Colman, Aimee Lou Wood, Susan Sarandon and Mark Ruffalo were among the actors to accuse “many governments of enabling the carnage in Gaza”.
“The world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, has ruled that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and that Israel’s occupation and apartheid against Palestinians are unlawful,” they said.
The pledge was published by Film Workers for Palestine and claimed that the “vast majority” of the Israeli film industry has never endorsed the rights of the Palestinian people.
