London, United Kingdom – Hundreds of business leaders in the United Kingdom – including a former king’s advisor and a sustainable consultant descended from the Holocaust victims – call on the government to take measures against Israel while the crisis in Gaza worsens.
Thursday morning, 762 people had signed a statement calling on the United Kingdom to cease any arms trade with Israel, to sanction those accused of having violated international law-including ostensibly Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as it is sought for arrest by the International Criminal Court, investing in the principles of screening to stop the “accomplices” companies United Kingdom.
“We consider this not only as a moral imperative, but as a professional responsibility – in accordance with our duty to act in the best interest of long -term societal and economic resilience,” said the letter. “The United Kingdom must ensure that no business – whether through products, services or supply chains – contributes to these atrocities, directly or indirectly.”
Among the signatories are the former Royal Councilor Jonathon Porritt CBE; The sustainable consultant Adam Garfunkel; Frieda Gormley, the founder of the luxury interior design brand House of Hackney; The eminent philanthropist who formerly directed Unilever, Paul Polman; and Geetie Singh -Watson Mbe, a biological food entrepreneur – as well as other professionals who were honored by the member of the British Empire (MBE).
They have undertaken to support the British government with a “process of reflection and action in progress – examining our operations, our supply chains, our financial flows and our influence to help promote peace, maintain human rights and strengthen respect for international law”.
“Business cannot be successful in collapsing companies,” said Polman. “It is time for business leaders to be courageous, to express themselves and to use our influence to respect international law.”
The number of professionals signing the letter increases while the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip face their darkest days. Israel begins a dreaded invasion in the city of Gaza while thousands of people endure hunger and famine due to the strip blockade.
“We need as business to justify our existence and recognize that everyone around the world deserve to be treated fairly,” Garfunkel told Tel Aviv Tribune. “My family was taken in the holocaust. My father had the chance to escape with his brother and parents in the United Kingdom. My great-grandparents were taken into the woods and slaughtered and buried in a mass tomb, and what I have drawn from what is a strong conviction that everyone has, that everyone has human rights, that persecution on the basis of ethnic identity is always wrong, where it happens. “
The latest War of Israel against Gaza, called genocide by the main rights defense groups, has killed more than 60,000 people in 22 months since October 7, 2023, when Hamas led a foray into southern Israel, during which around 1,200 were killed and 250 took captive crimes – “serious crimes under international law”, in accordance with the letter.
“However, the Israeli government’s ongoing military campaign is equivalent to an implacable and indefensible assault against civilians, breaking the moral borders and the fundamental principles of the Geneva conventions,” he added.
Porritt, who advised King Charles on environmental issues for 30 years when the monarch held the title of the Prince of Wales and chaired a sustainable development committee created by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, said the letter reflects the role of companies in society at a critical time.
“It has become so much clearer in recent months that this situation is now completely intolerable. And this is very specifically a genocide against the inhabitants of Palestine, Gaza,” he told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Companies are forced to support “the realization and maintenance” of human rights in the countries where they exchange, he said. “This provides a very strong orientation to explain why individual business leaders must get involved at this stage.”
Porritt recently made the headlines in the British media for his support for Palestine Action, a protest group that was prohibited by the British government weeks ago as a terrorist organization.
He was one of the more than 500 citizens arrested during a rally of August 9 in London, where he raised a banner reading: “I oppose the genocide, I support the action of Palestine.”
His audience for release under deposit is scheduled for the end of October.