Ceasefire Now: A letter to a (Tory) MP

This letter was given to Hastings MP Sally-Ann Hart (Con) by a group of her Jewish constituents, for her to send on to the Foreign Secretary, urgently.

She was handed it at a meeting discussing the profound anxieties about Israel’s actions, as expressed by a group of constituents of Jewish heritage. Many have family in Israel, and ties of various kinds there. The call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire is clear on the streets in Hastings, as elsewhere and across multiple organisations representing thousands of people. This mirrors the results of a recent poll in which 76% of the general public nationwide concurs.

One of its co-authors of the letter is a lawyer who has done human rights research in the West Bank and Gaza. it focusses in particular upon the legal aspects of Israel’s response: both in the breaches of its obligations as an occupying power; and in the increasing evidence of genocidal intent in the destruction of Gaza and its people.

We are publishing this as the useful information may help others wanting to approach MPs and, as the situation changes – worsens, there will be continuing need to pressure our MPs to withdraw their support to Israel.

LL

Dear Ms Hart,

IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE AND LONG-TERM PLAN FOR PEACE FOR ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

We were aghast at the monstrous attack on October 7^th by Hamas against both children and adults, and we grieve at their brutal destruction. We are distraught now at the ongoing carnage in Gaza, where so many thousands have been killed, and injured, maybe burned and alone, trapped under rubble which remains impossible to clear. We feel horrified by the deaths of over 6000 children, which cannot be justified as ‘collateral damage’. Another 34,000 children have been injured, some having to endure surgery without anaesthetic in what remains of Gaza’s hospitals.

We note that the Foreign Secretary on his recent visit to Israel spoke frankly in his meetings with Israeli leaders, urging them to do far more to protect civilians in Gaza where rates of death and injury are “too high”, and also castigating directly the violent and often murderous actions of armed settlers in the West Bank against Palestinian people there – which he called out as “completely unacceptable”.

We welcome his clear statement that there can ultimately be no peace and security for Israel unless and until  “there is long term safety, security and stability for the Palestinian people”.

Unfortunately, these words are falling on deaf ears. On Friday December 1st, Israel resumed its bombing in Gaza. Within hours, over one hundred civilians had been killed, and hundreds more every day since then.  “Safe” areas are being hit again, and those not yet killed are suffering a variety of illnesses from lack of food, and polluted water that now threaten to take a massive toll in life.

Having studied what is happening on the ground and looked carefully at the relevant provisions of the Genocide Convention 1948, to which both the UK and Israel are signatories, we have come to the conclusion that Israel is engaged in genocide against the Palestinians. The physical destruction of people and property is clear for all to see. The intent of the Israeli leadership is shockingly clear from the following statements made by various politicians in the weeks since the October 7 attacks:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated his threat to reduce Gaza to “ruins”.

Israeli military spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari proclaimed that “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy” in the thousands of missiles launched.

Defence Minister, Gallant, stated: “We are imposing a complete siege on [Gaza]… we are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly”. The plan is to “eliminate everything and Gaza won’t return to what it was before”.

Nissim Vaturi, member of the Knesset for Likud, called for “erasing the Gaza strip from the face of the earth”. And “We are too humane. Burn Gaza now”.

Minister of National Security Ben Gvir has stated on Twitter: “As long as Hamas does not release the hostages in its hands – the only thing that needs to enter Gaza are hundreds of tons of explosives for the Air Force, not an ounce of humanitarian aid.”

Former head of Israeli national security council Maj Gen Giora Eiland has said that ‘Gaza will become a place where no human being can exist.’

Particularly chilling in its explicitness and cruelty, and given the huge number of children killed, is the President of Israel Isaac Herzog’s  statement that “there are no innocent civilians in Gaza”.

And if further confirmation of genocidal intent were needed, Member of the Knesset for Likud, Ariel Kallner,  called for another Nakba “Right now, one goal: Nakba! A Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of 48. Nakba in Gaza and Nakba to anyone who dares to join!”.

Netanyahu lays it out as clearly as he can: describing the conflict as ‘a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness’ he invokes the biblical injunction to destroy Amalek:

‘Do not spare them: put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys’.

A recent and detailed investigation (https://www.972mag.com/mass-assassination-factory-israel-calculated-bombing-gaza/ ) based upon information from Israeli military and intelligence sources, confirms that there is an explicit strategy of bombing buildings known to be full of civilians, and of inflicting such grievous loss of civilian life that ultimately the Palestinian population will themselves reject Hamas.  Israeli policy has shifted in this war, and the West needs to understand this.

There are now four categories of targets, generated increasingly by AI; it is simply not all about hitting Hamas operatives and tunnels. One category is named ‘power targets’, as explained in the investigation mentioned above:

The third [category] is “power targets,” which includes high-rises and residential towers in the heart of cities, and public buildings such as universities, banks, and government offices. The idea behind hitting such targets, say three intelligence sources who were involved in planning or conducting strikes on power targets in the past, is that a deliberate attack on Palestinian society will exert “civil pressure” on Hamas.

As the occupying power in Gaza, Israel is also in breach of many of its obligations under the IV Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Civilian Persons in time of War of 1949, including the duty under Article 33 to refrain from subjecting civilians to collective punishment. Article 33 reads: ‘No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed…’ The citations from Israeli leaders above leave in no doubt that collective punishment is precisely what is being inflicted.

Other duties which Israel is breaching include:

• The duty under Article 55 to provide food and medical supplies to the occupied population;
• the duty under Article 56 to ensure medical and hospital care for the population, public health and hygiene and measures to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics;
• the duty under Article 49, when evacuating a given area (northern Gaza) to ensure that proper accommodation is provided to the evacuees, that removals are made in satisfactory condition of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition and that family members are not separated;
• the duty under Article 27 to protect civilians from ‘all acts of violence or threats thereof…’;

Britain prides itself on upholding the rule of law, yet at present the government’s position is one of unambiguous support for Israel, regardless of the above. As Jews we are extremely concerned about  the deaths of innocent children. We are also concerned that the government’s failure to advocate for the upholding of international law is doing untold damage to Britain’s international reputation. Furthermore,  the Government’s unqualified support for Israel, amplified by certain rhetoric from Government ministers and their failure to stand up for Palestinian human rights, is not only having disastrous consequences for community relations between Muslim and Jewish people on the streets of Britain, but is harming all community relations as we witness the sharp rise in Islamophobia, antisemitism and racism.

A number of countries have already referred Israel to the ICC for war crimes, including South Africa;  President Biden is currently being sued for complicity in these crimes with a federal complaint laid against him by the New York  Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and in recent days, seems himself to be amending his own hitherto unswerving support for the Israeli military action. In spite of extensive pressure from those across the USA supporting Israel, including a significant level of repression of those who present the kinds of information and views expressed in this letter, a recent poll showed 68% support there for an immediate ceasefire.

Our political leaders in the UK need now to step forward, distancing themselves from other voices of Western power, and do whatever it takes to persuade, even lead,  the international community in stopping the war, forcing a permanent ceasefire, and bringing the warring sides to the  table to negotiate a way forward that allows both populations to live peacefully. In view of the history of Palestine and Israel, the currented well-documented inability of most Israeli people to perceive the equal humanity of Palestinian people, and the profound mutual hatred as expressed repeatedly and unambiguously by their respective leaders in their repeated statements of intention to annihilate the other, this will be a mammoth task.

The UK holds considerable historic responsibility for the creation of the state of Israel.  We now owe it in particular to all the children who have been injured or killed already, and to those who have survived so far, to do what we can to stop the bloodshed and bring about peace.

Sincerely,

Dr Felicity Laurence

Teresa Thornhill

On behalf of a concerned group of constituents in Hastings and Rye of Jewish heritage