UK may be complicit in Israeli war crimes: Conservative MP

Conservative MP Crispin Blunt is co-director of the International Center of Justice for Palestinians, which announced notice of intention to prosecute UK government officials for aiding Gaza war crimes. (File/AFP)
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Updated 14 October 2023
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UK may be complicit in Israeli war crimes: Conservative MP

  • Crispin Blunt: Israel has enjoyed ‘exceptionalism and impunity from international law for a very long time now’
  • ‘The fact of being complicit makes you equally guilty to the party carrying out the crime’

LONDON: The UK may be complicit in war crimes if it continues to support Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip, an MP from the governing Conservative Party has warned.

Crispin Blunt is co-director of the International Center of Justice for Palestinians, which announced a notice of intention this week to prosecute UK government officials for “aiding and abetting war crimes in Gaza.”

He said “everyone must act to restrain people” if they are aware of the potential for war crimes, Sky News reported on Saturday.

Blunt’s warning comes after Israel issued an evacuation notice to northern Gaza’s 1.2 million people, demanding that they evacuate to the south ahead of an expected ground invasion.

He said he is “not sure (his) colleagues have grasped the legal peril they are in” due to steadfast support for Israel, which has enjoyed a “deal of exceptionalism and impunity from international law for a very long time now.”

Changes in international law could make UK officials a party to war crimes, Blunt warned. “If you know that a party is going to commit a war crime — and this forcible transfer of people is a precise breach of one of the statutes that governs international law and all states in this area — then you are making yourself complicit,” he said.

“And as international law has developed in this area, the fact of being complicit makes you equally guilty to the party carrying out the crime.”

Israeli airstrikes on the densely populated Gaza Strip have killed almost 2,000 Palestinians so far, including 583 children. Israel has also cut off the territory from water, food and electricity.

The situation has led to fears of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe, with nowhere for Palestinians to flee.

Blunt said: “What we’re not allowed (to do) is witness one crime being piled on with another, which is going to make the situation worse but is also fundamentally wrong.

“This has got to stop. If in response to the (Hamas) atrocity of last Saturday is an illegal atrocity that is even worse in scale — where does this lead?”

Blunt’s comments come as Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, criticized the UK for giving Israel “carte blanche to do whatever it pleases.”

She told Sky News: “Look at the annexation that has been announced officially this year of large swathes of the West Bank.

“Has anyone reacted to this? Not that I know of, other than in words and half-mouthed condemnations here and there.”


Ukraine president to meet European allies after Trump criticism

Updated 58 min 10 sec ago
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Ukraine president to meet European allies after Trump criticism

  • Talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami ended on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough
  • President Donald Trump accuses Ukrainian leader of not reading the US proposal to end the war with Russia

LONDON: Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky was due to meet with European allies in London on Monday, after President Donald Trump accused him of not reading the US proposal to end the war with Russia.

It comes after days of talks between Ukrainian and US officials in Miami ended on Saturday with no apparent breakthrough, with Zelensky committing to further negotiations.

The Ukrainian president will be received in London by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, along with the German chancellor and French president to discuss the negotiations.

British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is meanwhile expected in Washington on Monday, where she will meet her American counterpart Marco Rubio.

“The UK and US will reaffirm their commitment to reaching a peace deal in Ukraine,” the Foreign Office in London said, announcing Cooper’s visit.

Moscow has meanwhile continued to strike its neighbor, wounding at least nine people overnight Sunday to Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.

‘Disappointed’

Zelensky said he joined his negotiators for a “very substantive and constructive” call with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during the Miami negotiations.

“Ukraine is committed to continuing to work honestly with the American side to bring about real peace,” Zelensky said on Telegram, adding that the parties agreed “on the next steps and the format of the talks with America.”

But Trump criticized his Ukrainian counterpart on Sunday, telling reporters “I have to say that I’m a little bit disappointed that President Zelensky hasn’t yet read the proposal, that was as of a few hours ago.”

Witkoff and Kushner had met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last week, with Moscow rejecting parts of the US proposal.

French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of Monday’s talks slammed what he called Russia’s “escalatory path.”

“We will continue these efforts with the Americans to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, without which no robust and lasting peace will be possible,” Macron wrote on X.

He added: “We must continue to exert pressure on Russia to compel it to choose peace.”

Hot and cold

Washington’s initial plan to bring an end to the almost four-year war involved Ukraine surrendering land that Russia has not been able to win on the battlefield in return for security promises that fall short of Kyiv’s aspirations to join NATO.

But the nature of the security guarantees that Ukraine could get has so far been shrouded in uncertainty, beyond an initial plan saying that jets to defend Kyiv could be based in Poland.

Trump has blown hot and cold on Ukraine since returning to office in January, initially embracing Putin and chastising Zelensky for not being grateful for US support.

But he has also grown frustrated that his efforts to persuade Putin to end the war, including a summit in Alaska, have failed to produce results and he recently slapped sanctions on Russian oil firms.