Leading lawyers urge UK to put sanctions on Israel

The UK must put sanctions on the Israeli government and its ministers and consider suspending it from the UN to meet "fundamental international legal obligations", more than 800 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges, including former supreme court justices, have said.

- Haroon Siddique

In a letter to the prime minister, they welcome Keir Starmer's joint statement last week with the leaders of France and Canada warning that they were prepared to take "concrete actions" against Israel. But they urge him to act without delay as "urgent and decisive action is required to avert the destruction of the Palestinian people of Gaza".

The signatories, including the former supreme court justices Lord Sumption and Lord Wilson, court of appeal judges and more than 70 KCs, say war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law are being committed in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT). There is mounting evidence of genocide, which is either being perpetrated or at a minimum at serious risk of occurring, the letter states, highlighting recent comments by the Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who said Israel's army would "wipe out" what remains of Palestinian Gaza.

The signatories tell Starmer: "All states, including the UK, are legally obliged to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent and punish genocide; to ensure respect for international humanitarian law; and to bring to an end violations of [the right to self-determination]. The UK's actions to date have failed to meet those standards. The international community's failure to uphold international law in relation to the OPT contributes to a deteriorating international climate of lawlessness and impunity and imperils the international legal system itself. Your government must act now, before it is too late."