Tag Archives: Netanyahu

UK Complicity in Potential War Crimes and Breaches of International Law

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I really want to get back to writing about bicycle adventures, nature, as well as to focus more on the climate crisis. The latter seems to be taking a back seat despite record levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and global heating. However, this evening I have writtten the below to the Foreign Secretary in the hope of eliciting some response, and because every bit of pressure to stop the killing as got to help. I hope, therefore I am.

Dear Foreign Secretary,

I will try to keep this letter brief, despite the scale of what is happening, and despite the lives of many in the Middle East – including those of thousands of children – being cut brutally short.

I am writing to raise a formal complaint regarding the United Kingdom’s potential complicity in grave violations of international law linked to the actions UK Complicity in Potential War Crimes and Breaches of International Law the State of Israel and the United States in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran – a complicity enabled by this Government, and supported by politicians across parties.

By continuing to supply arms, logistics and intelligence, the UK risks aiding and abetting actions which many genocide scholars and legal experts have warned may constitute genocide. Since the horrific atrocities committed by Hamas on 7 October – atrocities which cannot and must not be excused – the response has been catastrophic in scale. Tens of thousands of children are reported to have been killed in Gaza alone.

Israel has also launched devastating attacks in Lebanon. Prior to the latest escalation, over 1.1 million people, including 400,000 children, had already been displaced, with around 1,500 killed, including at least 125 children.

In Gaza, Lebanon and beyond, civilians are not being spared. Doctors, healthcare workers, teachers and journalists are among those repeatedly killed. In the West Bank, illegal settlements continue to expand, accompanied by the destruction of homes, farms and olive groves, and violence against Palestinian families.

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of starvation as a weapon. Allegations of unlawful attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure extend beyond Gaza. The continued use of UK bases in support of military actions against Iran raises serious questions about the UK’s own compliance with international law.

My complaint centres on the following:

  1. Why is the UK continuing to act in ways that risk complicity in war crimes and potential genocide?
  2. Why has the UK not imposed meaningful sanctions on Israel, as it did on Russia following the illegal invasion of Ukraine?
  3. Why are peaceful protesters – ordinary people speaking out against genocide and in support of Palestinian people – being arrested and, in some cases, labelled as extremists or terrorists?
  4. What assessment has been made of the legal risk to UK ministers and officials of complicity in international crimes?

The UK should be upholding international law, not finding ways around it. Continuing on this path does not represent me, nor, I believe, the majority of people in this country.

Please cease support for actions that violate international law, and take immediate steps to ensure the UK is not complicit in further harm. At what point do we stop telling ourselves we are upholding international law – and start asking, honestly, whether we are helping to break it?

Yours sincerely,

James Harvey
Councillor, Broadland District Council

Ruins in the MIddle East
Ruins in the MIddle East

The Trio of Tyranny

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I just listened to Trump justify the US invasion of Venezuela, and the kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. To give him credit, at least he didn’t bother hiding his intentions: stealing the largest remaining proven oil reserves in the world. He stood there, flanked by sycophants Hegseth and Rubio, and brazenly told the world how the US will run the country “until such a time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

I don’t know how true the accusations are that Maduro is involved in drug trafficking, money laundering, embezzlement, and election fraud. It seems entirely possible there’s a case to be made. But is it really right for “Team America: World Police” to invade another sovereign nation, kidnap its elected leader and their spouse, and kill an unknown number of Venezuelan soldiers – and possibly civilians – in the process?

I wrote this in my blog the other day:

“Fight the narcissistic, misogynist, arrogant old white men who have clawed their way to the top of the fetid political pile, treating truth, human lives, welfare, and civil rights as expendable commodities — traded for votes or simply discarded as democracy and the right to protest are eroded.”

The US actions against Venezuela — the power-gaming, the enormous armada sitting off the Caribbean coast, the overwhelming military might, including supposedly unrivalled “American Warriors” from the Department of “War” — are a very clear signal of US foreign policy going forward. And Trump isn’t even pretending otherwise. He wants to boast about it, wrapping naked imperialism in hollow words like “Peace, Liberty and Justice” — three concepts I’m not convinced he understands at all.

Referring to Venezuela, Trump said::

“Run the country til such a time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

And referring to other dictators – or, more accurately, any foreign leader he and his administration don’t like – he added:

“What happened to Maduro can happen to them”

Trump has just seized control of the world’s largest remaining proven oil reserves and openly stated he’s sending in US oil companies to manage them — securing vast new fossil fuel supplies and obscene amounts of cash for Chevron and friends. We can’t afford to burn the oil we already have; the climate crisis is spiralling out of control. But of course, Trump doesn’t believe in that. It’s all a hoax, apparently.

He also made it very clear that the US is:

“Ready to stage second and much larger attack if needed.”

So yes — the gloves are well and truly off. If they were ever on to begin with. He’s not even trying to disguise the threats of violence anymore.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu continues slaughtering Palestinians and stealing their land, despite an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Putin continues his illegal invasion of Ukraine, with a similar ICC warrant hanging over him. At what point do we stop pretending this is normal? Are we living in some dystopian fever dream? Who, exactly, are the real criminals here?

Wanted, the Trio of Tyranny - Trump, Netanyahu, Putin, for war crimes, corruption, election fraud.
Wanted – The Trio of Tyranny

I could have limited the poster to Trump alongside Hegseth and Rubio. But it feels more honest to include his international war-criminal allies: Netanyahu and Putin. What a tight little club of ageing, authoritarian strongmen. Xi Jinping could arguably be added too, but somehow his crimes feel almost restrained by comparison. The patriarchy is alive and well.

It seems Team America: World Police is here to stay – with US foreign policy openly embracing the right to take whatever it wants, from whoever it wants, whenever it wants. The question is whether Europe will finally find the backbone to stand up to Trump, or whether we’ll continue playing the role of obedient lickspittles and sycophants.

“America, fuck yeah,

Comin′ again to save the motherfuckin’ day, yeah,

America, fuck yeah,

Freedom is the only way, yeah”

And of course, none of this would be possible without the loyal supporting cast: the allies who nod gravely, issue “deeply concerned” statements, and then quietly sign the arms deals anyway. The UK and Europe will huff, puff, and clutch their pearls – right up until Washington snaps its fingers, at which point we’ll rediscover the ancient art of obedience. It’ll all be waved away as “pragmatism”, “security interests”, or the timeless classic “we had no choice”. History, however, has an annoying habit of remembering who spoke out – and who smiled politely while the bombs fell.