Is Britain breaking international law over Israel to avoid offending Trump? We may find out in court this week | Yasmine Ahmed

S.On Tuesday, the British government in the Supreme Court will defend what cannot be defended: its continuous approval of arms exports to Israel. When the lawyers of the ground government take to make their opening notes-in the case of the Palestinian Human Rights Group, and Human Rights Watch-Thousands of children in Gaza will come out. This is the result of the Israeli siege on food, assistance and medical supplies that challenge the orders of the International Court of Justice.

Thousands of mothers will grieve for children who were lost in a attack on Gaza, who can cost life More than 50,000 peopleAccording to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. Thousands of people will be homeless, Bend Living between the ruins of cities and cities that they did not admit.

Israel is committing widespread and methodological violations of international law. This is easy to see. Organizations such as my country have documented how the Israeli government Commitment A group of atrocities crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza, Incurred Acts of genocide and a crime against humanity from genocide. independent United Nations investigation He found the same.

Under British and international law, weapons license must be suspended if there is a “clear danger” of the use of weapons to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law. This threshold was not only crossed, it has been shaved.

Last September, the government I confess The threshold was crossed and about 30 export licenses were suspended for the military equipment used by the Israeli army in Gaza. But it left a critical vulnerability: the components of a F-35 fighter plane that falls into a global world F-35 supply program, Which is Supervisor By the United States, Israel is sources of parts of. Fifteen per cent From the F35 fighter plane – it can be said that the deadly UK releases used by the Israeli forces in Gaza – are manufactured in the United Kingdom. According to reports, F-35 was used in A. BeatenIt is a dedicated safe area, as the Israeli forces dropped at least three bombs of 2000 pounds, apparently the killing of 90 people, including women and children.

Therefore, if Kiir Starmer, the Prime Minister, accepts that this decisive legal threshold has been fulfilled, so how can the government stand in the court and justify this breach of international law? Well, the government argues that the commitment to avoid the sale of weapons that will be used in potential war crimes does not apply in this context because the F-35 program is Necessary Global “Peace and Security”. What this means in practice is still unclear, but it seems that one of the components of the provision of global peace and security, exposed during the last court session, is that the UK does not want an external policy at odds with the United States. According to the documents submitted as evidence, adhering to its obligations “will undermine confidence in the United Kingdom and NATO at a critical turn in our collective history and the decline in relations.”

This argument is very dangerous. Countries will allow their international obligations simply to appease an ally; It risks the management of the coach and horses through the framework of international weapons control, including the UN Arms Trade Treaty (Att), which was believed by the United Kingdom in 2014. It will have long -term consequences for people’s lives in Gaza and the risk of conflict that has become a plan for other armed conflicts, where international law is dealt with as optional and strong known relationships. This is dangerous in any context, but with Donald Trump On his head in the White House, he limits strangely ridiculous.

Trump strongly attacked the vital organs of justice and order such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations, often in defense of Israel, including by by Declaration of the penal program Which targets the decisive work of the International Criminal Court, U.S. withdrawal From the United Nations Human Rights Council, a proposal to reduce funding for many United Nations programs and institutions. His administration has punishment Collective deportation and imprisonment of migrants without respect for their rights to legal procedures.

In the context of the current hostile works in Gaza, Trump scared and solidified Joe Biden approachDeepening Plot us In Israeli atrocities. Trump has Backed Supporting the ethnic cleansing and the forced displacement of the Palestinians in Gaza, the campaign to liquidate the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Business Agency in the Near East (UNRWA), the main United Nations Refugee Agency. He has I encouraged Israel to break the ceasefire, reverse He stopped offering to Israel from the destroyed bomb, which has an area of ​​2000 pounds, Penalty On the violent actors in the West Bank, and Threaten Foreign citizens who criticize Israel in the United States are deporting. It is not surprising that the suppression of the Palestinians, the violence of the settlers and the land officers in the occupied West Bank has increased since he took office.

It is time for the United Kingdom to reassess the so -called “special relationship” in the United States and take a position. The abandonment of its legal defense of the license of the components of a F-35 fighter plane for the global program is the legal and moral thing that must be done, it is the human thing that must be done, and it is also the common thing to be done, with the polling delivery. The majority of the British Support the suspension of arms exports to Israel. In a time of amazing uncertainty and geopolitical turmoil, Britain needs to defend and adhere to international law – even if Donald Trump is bothering.

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