LONDON: More than 60 British lawmakers from seven political parties have called on Foreign Secretary David Lammy to impose sanctions on Israel, citing “repeated violations of international law.”
The letter was sent to Lammy on Wednesday night and spearheaded by independent MPs Richard Burgon and Imran Hussain.
It draws on a landmark advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July, which declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories unlawful and called for its immediate end.
Among the signatories are prominent political figures, including former Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, and ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Other lawmakers representing Labour, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, and the Scottish National Party, also joined the call.
Members of the pro-Gaza Independent Alliance and peers like Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who served as co-chairwoman of the Conservative Party, also signed the letter.
The ICJ advisory opinion highlighted that all states, including the UK, have a legal obligation to refrain from actions that recognize or support Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
The MPs’ letter urged the UK government to take immediate steps to comply with international law.
“We write to urge the UK government to impose sanctions and take other concrete steps to give effect to the landmark opinion issued by the ICJ on Israel’s continuing illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territory,” said the letter.
The letter stressed that the UK’s stated commitment to international law should be reflected in its actions. “Acting in support of the ICJ advisory opinion would be a critical step in demonstrating that commitment,” the MPs wrote.
The lawmakers also called Britain “to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Territories” and “to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the Occupied Territories which may entrench its unlawful presence there.”
Israel has launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack in October last year, killing nearly 44,300 people, most of them women and children, and injuring over 104,700.
The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions labeling the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.
