Smoke billows over Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment, on 2 January 2024 (AFP)
London (Quds News Network)- David Cameron, the former British foreign secretary, sat on advice from Foreign Office officials in Israel and London that there was clear evidence of breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza for which the UK risked being complicit, the Guardian reported.
A former Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) adviser, who contributed to the drafting of the advice, was speaking after the Labour government banned 30 of about 350 arms export licenses to Israel due to a clear risk cited in a government memorandum published on Monday that they might be used in serious breaches of international humanitarian Law.
The source said what has emerged in the memorandum “is similar to what was being sent to the government from at least February onwards in various drafts by Foreign Office advisers, much of it linked to the deteriorating humanitarian position in Gaza. But what has been eventually published is in much less strident language.
“The tragedy has to be considered: how many lives might have been saved if the arms export licenses had been stopped then and not in September, and what the potential ripple effect might have been on how other countries would have reacted in ceasing trade.”
The source added: “The advice being sent through to the Foreign Office was clear that the breaches of IHL by Israel as the occupying power were so obvious that there was a danger of UK complicity if the licenses were not withdrawn.”
A member of the previous government said its legal advice was in some respects similar to that published by Labour concerning the treatment of detainees and humanitarian aid, but insisted the legal advice was iterative and changing, adding it never said explicitly that ministers needed to suspend arms sales to avoid breaching international humanitarian law, according to the Guardian.
The inquest into how it took a British government 10 months to conclude a risk of serious breaches of IHL existed came as the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, slammed the UK’s decision to suspend some arms sales to Israel.
“This shameful decision will not change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that savagely murdered 1,200 people on October 7, including 14 British citizens,” Netanuahu said on X.
He added: “Just as Britain’s heroic stand against the Nazis is seen today as having been vital in defending our common civilization, so too will history judge Israel’s stand against Hamas and Iran’s axis of terror … With or without British arms, Israel will win this war and secure our common future.”
The FCDO source said wider lessons needed to be drawn from the internal handling of the issue.
The source said: “Israel highlights vital lessons globally for arms companies and countries which grant export licenses as part of elaborate trade deals. The reality is that none of these licenses are granted in isolation of other business and political interests, and are enmeshed with other forms of trade technology exchanges and security equity.”
“Companies also bear a responsibility to respect international humanitarian and criminal law, as do governments.”
“Internally, the Foreign Office does not seem very cohesive, with disputes between humanitarian, legal and political teams, as well as with sections of the Ministry of Defence.”
Source: qudsnen
