The recent declarations of the British government concerning the horrible crimes of Israel in Gaza are a welcome realization that Israel, their ally of trust, is engaged in odious brutality against the people of Gaza.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, David Lammy, was held yesterday in the House of Commons (May 20) and denounced the blocking of Israel of Gaza as “morally bad” and “an affront to the values of the British people”, and in so doing, also paused the negotiations in the matter of free trade agreement with Israel and imposed a handful of selections, and a free trade in protest. One day earlier, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Mark Carney have jointly warned “concrete actions” if Israel did not stop his military offensive renewal and allowed the help to sink into Gaza.
These statements mark the most explicit criticism of Israel by the Western allies in recent memory, but they only came after more than a year and a half of incessant civilian victims – more than 50,000 Gazans killed since 2023, including tens of thousands of women and children. How many innocent lives, including those of children, could have been spared if such a criticism of the atrocities committed by Israel was made more than a year ago, by the Western allies.
The question is now whether this late moral clarity will be supported by the significant measures necessary to make a change, with a significant operating word.
Why the solid allies of Israel, so long willing to neglect the blatant conduct of Israel, suddenly decided to express themselves and express themselves? I suspect that change has less to do with a new sensitivity to human suffering and more to do with geopolitics, and the emerging realization that responsibility can bring.
He has been reported in recent weeks that President Trump has tired and tired of Netanyahu, considering the strategy of the Israeli leader as responsibility for his own heritage. Indeed, Trump notably omitted Israel from his recent golf tour despite an intense lobbying of the Netanyahu government, signaling an enlargement of the fracture between Washington and Tel Aviv. That schism gave in the United Kingdom, Canada and France the diplomatic coverage they needed to express their anxiety deeply rooted about the conduct of Israel, without fear of outright opposition, or even worse, a reprimand of the White House.
Add to this, extremely powerful interventions of experienced diplomats, respected experts and humanitarian workers. During the Briefing of the United Nations Security Council on May 13, the UN emergency coordinator Tom Fletcher warned the body to “stop the atrocity of the 21st century” which takes place in Gaza, stressing that no help had entered the band for more than 10 weeks and that 2.1 million people faced an imminent famine. He rightly disputed the supporters of Israel and the international community as a whole, with a simple question “do you act decisively – to prevent genocide and to ensure respect for international humanitarian law? Or would you say instead: “We did everything we could?” »»
After that, Fletcher pronounced a heartbreaking plea: unless vital aid reached families in Gaza within 48 hours, some 14,000 babies could die. Fourteen thousand babies. If this does not sting your moral conscience, then nothing will do it. Such a striking testimony of a diplomat and humanitarian with decades of experience in the conflict zones simply emphasizes what many others have told us, Gaza is hell on earth and the conditions on the ground are beyond the inhuman.
As the images and diffusion flows of civilians suffering from multiplying, the countries which have supported, armed and funded Israel must also confront their own complicity. Moral indignation alone is insufficient. If Western governments really believe that Israel’s actions are “monstrous”, intolerable “and” unacceptable “, as the British government said in the last 48 hours, then they must take concrete measures rather than deliver a handful of token sanctions or take a break from negotiations that have not taken place for months.
Here are three concrete actions that the British and Western allies should take and take now:
First, the United Kingdom and its allies must immediately suspend all arms exports and related components to Israel. Current measures of the United Kingdom – by suspending only 10% of weapons licenses – are grotesically inadequate. If the Minister of Foreign Affairs can describe the atrocities committed by Israel as “an affront to British values”, how can he justify the sale of British weapons, ammunition and components, including parts for F-35 jets which facilitate such atrocities?
Second, the United Kingdom must impose significant sanctions. Beyond trivial active ingredients is freezing on a handful of Israeli figures, sanctions must target senior Israeli officials. Sanctions should be imposed on people like Israeli Minister Bezalel Smotrich, whose recent statements on the cleaning and destruction of Gaza have been rightly qualified as extremism by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. Sanctions should also be published for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is sought after by the International Criminal Court for War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity. There should also be a serious discussion on commercial embargoes and cultural boycotts, comparable to those which have been imposed on apartheid South Africa, to isolate a government that the CIJ found in violation of the prohibition of apartheid and racial segregation.
Finally, the allies of the United Kingdom and the West must immediately recognize the state of Palestine, following the example of European allies Ireland, Norway and Spain. If the United Kingdom really believes that a solution to two states is the path of peace, it cannot pay a simple lip service by calling for negotiations while recognizing only one state. We know that there is no military solution to the question of Palestine / Israel. It will only be resolved by diplomacy and negotiations. There can be no serious progress towards the way to peace if the rights of a people are completely refused.
Declarations in the last two days of London, Paris and Ottawa have been expected for a long time – and welcome – however, they must be the prelude to significant action and sanctions in order to stop the genocide of the people of Gaza.
It is far too late for tens of thousands of dead gasans, the countless wounded and those driven out of their homes. However, the emerging tide of Western criticism suggests an awareness that only leads to the non -critical support for Israel has placed these governments on the wrong side of history – an error for which they can still be held responsible in the years to come.
The real measure of their determination will be in the significant actions that they undertake now, not the strength of their rhetoric.
For 14,000 babies, on the verge of death, I hope that the action will arrive as soon as possible.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Tel Aviv Tribune.