JJP again lobbies the Foreign Office on Gaza

On 17 October, JJP again wrote to the Foreign Office, seeking a meeting to discuss the increasingly horrifying Israeli aggression in Gaza and Lebanon.

Our letter is copied below:

Serena Stone, Deputy Head, Israel Palestine Task force 17 October 2024

Dear Ms. Stone,

We are writing again to seek a meeting to discuss the increasingly horrifying Israeli aggression in Gaza and Lebanon.

Since we wrote to you on 29 August, Israel has commenced an assault on Lebanon in order to subdue Hezbollah. As in Gaza, the Israeli army is showing complete disregard for the principles of proportionality and discrimination central to the protection of civilians in time of war. It is apparently willing to kill a hundred civilians in order to kill one Hezbollah commander.

It also looks very like this Israeli government is trying to provoke Iran into a war, knowing that the United States will have to support it. The chain of four provocative assassinations leads to that conclusion. That one of the assassinations was of Ismail Haniyah, leader of the political wing of Hamas who was negotiating for a ceasefire, speaks volumes about the Israeli Government’s motives.

Prime Minister Netanyahu claims Israel is defending itself against existential threat, but the reality is that Israel’s 57-year long occupation of Palestinian land has caused the Palestinians to resist and Hezbollah and Iran to support them. The threat is not to Israel’s existence, only to its freedom to continue permanently denying Palestinians their right to self-determination, and eventually to create Greater Israel at their expense. The terrorism against Israeli civilians is undoubtedly immoral, but it’s part of the resistance, and is more than matched by Israel’s genocidal war of revenge.

A bombing and missile war war between Israel, supported by the United Sates, and Iran, supported by Russia, would be devastating to both countries. The threat of a nuclear strike by Israel if it was taking heavy losses would be ever-present. The questions would then be: how would Russia respond, and then how would the United States respond to that?

This is a dangerous moment. The British government should use all its influence, publicly and privately, to stop the escalation now. It should do two things:

First, the UK should now stop the supply of all offensive weapons to Israel and should try to persuade the United States to do the same. We acknowledge that the UK has taken a small step towards stopping weapons supply to Israel, but more needs to be done.

Second, the UK should exert pressure on Israel to accept a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. It is widely acknowledged that the continued failure of Gaza ceasefire talks is due to Prime Minister Netanyahu and the neo-fascist elements in his government.

We hope to hear from you shortly to arrange a meeting.

Arthur Goodman

Diplomatic and Parliamentary Officer