On Tuesday, a UN Human Rights Council commission – led by former president of the Rwanda genocide international tribunal Navi Pillay – concluded that Israel had committed four of the five “genocidal acts” defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
“The commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza,” Pillay said. “It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.”
Her commission concluded that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Israeli president Isaac Herzog and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, had incited the commission of genocide.
Brendan O’Hara, the SNP’s Middle East spokesperson at Westminster, noted that it was “just a few days ago” that Prime Minister Keir Starmer had welcomed Herzog to Downing Street .
“Here we have yet another report telling us what all of us can see with our own eyes every night on the news – there is a genocide happening in Gaza,” O’Hara went on.
“The Labour Government will be remembered in the history books for its complicity in a genocide while a humanitarian disaster unfolded and this latest UN report should shame all of those who equivocated and stalled over doing the right thing by the Palestinian people.
“The question now begs how can Keir Starmer and his government continue to send arms to Israel and provide military support to the known war criminals which the UN has now said are committing genocide against the people of Gaza?”
First Minister John Swinney said the UN report meant that “silence – and inaction – is not an option”.
“Too many innocent Palestinians have already died, and more will follow unless we see serious and urgent action from the international community to put an end to this horror,” the SNP leader said.
“The case for imposing sanctions on the members of the government of Israel who are responsible is now unanswerable.
“External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson will today write to the UK Government to again insist that it shoulders its unique historic responsibility to pressurise the Israeli government to change course and ensure a peaceful resolution.”
On Tuesday, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said that “Gaza is burning” as his military began a ground offensive targeting Gaza City.
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Amnesty International’s crisis response manager Kristyan Benedict said the UK Government needed to “stop indulging in genocide denial”.
“We welcome the UN commission’s findings that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza – a significant and necessary moment,” she said. “Now the UK government must change its position and take action without delay.
“Its continued reluctance to officially acknowledge even the risk of the ongoing genocide in Gaza is increasingly untenable and stands in stark contrast to overwhelming legal evidence and the mounting consensus among international genocide scholars and human rights organisations.
“Under the Genocide Convention, all states – including the UK – bear a clear and binding legal obligation to act. This solemn duty, enshrined in international law, cannot be dismissed or delayed due to political convenience.”
Amnesty said the UK Government must:
- End all UK arms exports to Israel.
- Support the International Criminal Court and enforce its arrest warrants, including against Netanyahu.
- Implement International Court of Justice rulings in full. The court previously ruled there was a “plausible” risk to Palestinians’ right to be protected from genocide.
- Ban all trade with Israeli settlements.
- Adopt targeted sanctions against the Israeli officials most implicated in international crimes.
- Demand dismantling of apartheid and an end to Israel’s occupation.
The UN report’s conclusions come after the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) also affirmed that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza .
Other human rights groups including Amnesty and the Israel-based B’Tselem have also concluded that there is a genocide in Gaza.
Israel has denied it is committing war crimes in Gaza, accusing the various human rights groups of falling for Hamas “lies”.
The UK Government has been asked for comment.
Last week, it was revealed that the Labour Government had not concluded there is a genocide in Gaza .
In a letter dated September 1, 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”.
