LONDON: Senior UK government ministers and MPs have clashed over whether Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide ahead of Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s visit to London this week.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting told Times Radio that Herzog “needs to answer the allegations of war crimes, of ethnic cleansing and of genocide that are being leveled at the government of Israel.”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will hold talks with Herzog in Downing Street on Wednesday.
Streeting added: “I think he (Herzog) needs to explain how, when we have seen so much evidence of the atrocities being perpetrated by the Israeli Army, how he can possibly claim that the IDF is the most moral army in the world. I think he should explain that, if it is not the intent of the government of Israel to perpetrate genocide or ethnic cleansing, how on Earth does he think his Israeli government is going to achieve its stated aim of clearing Palestinians out of Gaza without the war crimes, without ethnic cleansing, or even without genocide?”
Streeting said he had spoken last week to British doctors who had worked in Gaza, receiving “the most harrowing eyewitness testimony, one saying for weeks no food was allowed into Gaza, not even for babies.”
He added that the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, were “barbaric,” “immoral” and “inhumane” and that “not a single one of those atrocities and injustices committed on Oct. 7 can possibly be answered with a level of civilian, innocent loss and suffering that we’re seeing in Gaza, or indeed Israeli settler terrorism being perpetrated in the West Bank.”
The comments appear to contradict a letter from Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, published on Tuesday, which stated that Israel had not committed genocide in Gaza.
The letter, sent last week before Lammy was replaced as foreign secretary, explained that the Genocide Convention defines genocide as acts committed with the specific “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic racial or religious group” and added: “The government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.”
Lammy also criticized the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza, writing: “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.”
A Downing Street spokesman said the letter “reflects the UK’s position that we’ve not come to any conclusion as to whether genocide has or has not been committed in Gaza” and stressed that it is for the International Court of Justice to make such determinations.
Meanwhile, the new Green Party leader Zack Polanski joined calls for Herzog’s arrest during his UK visit, accusing him of being part of the “Israeli government engaged in an ongoing genocide.”
Polanski, who is Jewish, said: “Welcoming a potential war criminal to the UK is another demonstration of how this Labour government is implicated in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. It also serves as a brutal insult to those mourning the thousands of innocent lives lost and to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing ongoing violence and hunger.”
He added that refusing to detain Herzog “can be seen as a contravention of the Geneva Convention.”
More than 60 MPs wrote to Starmer and new Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper asking whether Herzog’s visa is compatible with UK obligations under the Genocide Convention, noting the ICJ had determined Israel faces a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza.
Israel has denied that its actions amount to genocide.
The country struck and destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City on Monday, claiming it was targeting Hamas observation posts, and maintains a naval blockade on the enclave.
It also confirmed it targeted Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday, an attack widely condemned.
Meanwhile, Spain has banned ships and aircraft carrying weapons to Israel from its ports, describing the measures as antisemitic, though asserting that anyone participating directly in “genocide” in Gaza would be denied entry.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited Downing Street on Monday to discuss Gaza and the pledge by Starmer to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly later this month if Israel does not change course.
A Downing Street spokesperson said both leaders agreed there would be “absolutely no role” for Hamas in future Palestinian governance.
They also discussed “the intolerable situation in Gaza” and the urgent need for a ceasefire, hostage releases, and humanitarian aid, with Starmer outlining “ongoing work with partners on a long-term solution … the only way to bring about enduring peace and stability for both Palestinians and Israelis.”
