An obscene decision

The Foreign Secretary has announced that the Government is suspending some 30 licences for arms exports to Israel following legal advice from the Attorney General, whose views on Israel were well-known before he was appointed.

In the interest of “transparency”, Foreign Secretary David Lammy has published a summary of this legal advice.

This decision comes just weeks after Mr Lammy announced that the Government was resuming funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), after the previous Government suspended funding earlier this year following allegations — which have since effectively been admitted — that some UNRWA staff had been involved in the 7th October Hamas attack and even that at least one hostage was held captive at the home of an UNRWA teacher.

Today, Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to ask whether legal advice was sought in relation to the restoration of funding to UNRWA, and for a summary of that advice similarly to be published. Weapons sales to the Jewish state have been suspended because of a supposed “clear risk” that they may be used in ways that breach international law; we are interested to see whether no such risks were identified in relation to the funding to UNRWA.

The Government has ensured that a UN agency that is, at best, reckless to Hamas’s use of its premises and personnel for purposes of terror and, at worst, complicit, has the resources that it wants, while depriving Israel of what it needs to defend its citizens. It is a Government whose decisions thus far have all been hostile toward the Jewish state — decisions announced by a Foreign Secretary who insists that his Government supports Israel while sanctioning it and who wears a yellow ribbon in support of the hostages when he meets Israeli officials but removes it for meetings with the Palestinian Authority.

This latest announcement of arms sale suspensions comes on the day that Israel was burying the six hostages brutally slaughtered in cold blood by antisemitic Hamas terrorists. The British Government is broadcasting that Western allies should not be supplying Israel with the arms that it needs to fight to save the hostages and defeat Hamas. This is obscene.

The announcement also comes on the day that Jeremy Corbyn declared the establishment of a new alliance of five independent MPs who have made Gaza their principal priority. Each of these MPs has a concerning record of rhetoric in relation to the Jewish community or the Jewish state, yet it is they and their supporters whom Labour is choosing to appease with this announcement, while paying lip service to the Jewish community.

British Jews cannot be bought with fine words and hand-wringing every Holocaust Memorial Day. We continue to make every effort to engage with Sir Keir Starmer’s new Government, but, as he himself said as he took over the leadership of the Labour Party, the Jewish community should judge him by his actions and not his words. The events of 7th October and the ongoing captivity of hostages are the worst single antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust, and we join the Chief Rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, in condemning the actions of the Foreign Secretary.

We invite you to write to:

• David Lammy MP, particularly if you live in his Tottenham constituency;
• Lord Hermer, the Attorney General; or
• Sarah Sackman MP, the Solicitor General, particularly if you live in her constituency of Finchley and Golders Green.

Continuing to do our part to help the hostages

Our joy at the rescue of hostage Qaid Farhan Al-Kadi from Gaza last week has been displaced by heartbreak at the news that six hostages were murdered by Hamas hours before their own abortive rescue.

This news makes our campaign to encourage MPs to take action all the more urgent.

Later this week, 7th September 2024 will mark eleven months since Hamas abducted 251 Israelis and other nationals from Israel and took them into captivity in Gaza. Of those 251 hostages, 117 have been returned alive, and now 36 bodies have been repatriated. Over 100 still remain, including four who have been held by Hamas since before October 2023.

In a month’s time, on 7th October 2024, we will be marking the one-year anniversary of the massacre perpetrated by Hamas. We must do whatever we can to ensure that no hostage is still in captivity by that date.

That is why we are running a campaign encouraging everyone to write to their MP to educate our Parliamentarians — including the hundreds of new MPs — about this issue and put the hostages back on the agenda. Thanks to so many of you for heeding our call and writing to your MP.

You can write in two easy steps.

• First, download this Word document, which contains a draft letter that you are welcome to use or amend as you please before sending either as a hard-copy letter, or as an e-mail attachment, or simply as text in the body of an e-mail. Remember to add your MP’s name and your name and postcode so that they know that you are a constituent and that they should respond.
• Second, find out who your MP is and how to contact them, by clicking here.

If you get particularly supportive or hostile responses, you are welcome to share them with us by forwarding them to [email protected].

Last chance to RSVP for Stories from Students

Since 7th October, Jewish student life on campus has been turned on its head.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has therefore brought together current students and recent graduates from universities across the country to share their stories and answer questions from prospective students and their parents, as well as current students and other interested members of the Jewish community.

This event, taking place this Thursday 5th September at 18:30 in North London, is an important opportunity to hear directly from Jewish students.

It is also a chance for us to come together to show our support and solidarity with those who faced this new generation of hate head-on.

Booking is essential.

Sir Keir Starmer said that the Jewish community should judge him by his actions and not his words. So far, this Government’s words regarding the Jewish state have tried to be reassuring but its actions have been little short of hostile.

This bodes very ill for the coming years, and Sir Keir risks rapidly losing the goodwill with British Jews that he spent years building up.