In a letter dated September 1 and uncovered on Monday evening, David Lammy in his former role of foreign secretary said that the Government had concluded that despite the widespread slaughter in Gaza, Israel was not acting with genocidal “intent”.
The letter was addressed to Sarah Champion, chair of the International Development Committee, and noted the “appalling situation” in the occupied Palestinian territories and the expansion of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Lammy (below) said: “The Government has carefully considered the risk of genocide, including when permitting exports to the F-35 global programme.
“The high civilian casualties, including women and children, and the extensive destruction in Gaza, are utterly appalling. Israel must do much more to prevent and alleviate the suffering that this conflict is causing.
“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.”
He also said that, despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in an interim judgment that South Africa’s genocide case against Israel was plausible, it did not amount to “creating an awareness of a serious risk of genocide”.
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The ICJ has ordered provisional measures, Lammy said, to prevent Israel from committing genocide with which the UK has pleaded for Israel to comply.
He added: “The case is ongoing and the court is yet to hear and rule on the merits.
“To date, the ICJ has neither found that Israel has breached its obligations under the Genocide Convention, nor ruled on the plausibility of Israel committing genocide.
“Accordingly, we do not consider that the ICJ’s provisional measures orders should be regarded as creating an awareness of a serious risk of genocide.”
The letter constitutes a major shift in the Government’s public position, which has been that it is for a court to determine whether a genocide is taking place in Gaza.
It provides cover for the UK Government to continue supplying parts for the F-35 jets which have been instrumental in Israel’s campaign to flatten Gaza and which were given a carve-out in the partial arms embargo imposed on the country last year.
Lammy has since lost his job as foreign secretary, replaced by Yvette Cooper (above).
In May, Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer 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.”
It comes before a deeply controversial visit to the UK by Israeli president Isaac Herzog on Wednesday.
Unlike Benjamin Netanyahu, Herzog is not subject to an international arrest warrant – something the UK Government has indicated it would honour if the Israeli prime minister was to set foot in Britain.
Keir Starmer welcomed Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, to Downing Street on Monday evening and a Government spokesperson said after the visit the pair had agreed that “there will be absolutely no role for Hamas in the future governance of Palestine”.
The Government’s conviction that Israel is not committing genocide puts it at odds with international expert opinion.
Human rights experts such as Amnesty International, B’Tselem and the International Association of Genocide Scholars among others consider Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza to be a genocide.
More than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023 and at least 163,000, some of whom were killed or injured trying to collect food and humanitarian aid.
The UK Government has conceded that Israel has created a man-made famine in Gaza. Swathes of the territory have been flattened and rendered uninhabitable and the Israeli government has discussed plans to herd Palestinians into concentration camps after almost two years of forced displacements.
