The SNP is urging the Labour UK government to act immediately to re-write the morally corrupt decision of their predecessors, which sought to block the ICC arrest warrants for suspected war criminals, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
The deadline for the UK to withdraw its amicus curae submission to the ICC is today (Friday 26th of July).
If the UK continues with this submission to undermine the application for arrest warrants, the ICC investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity will be hindered and significantly delayed.Â
Almost 40,000 innocent Palestinians have now been killed by the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, a military assault directed by Netanyahu and Gallant.
Commenting, SNP MP Brendan O’Hara said:
“There are very few moments in history where a single decision can be seen as this pivotal.
“Netanyahu, who has directed the destruction and death of nearly 40,000 innocent Palestinians, including over 16,000 children, the wiping out of every university and hospital in Gaza, the direct attack of humanitarians and UN designated safe zones, and the intentional starvation of millions of displaces families, has just been hosted and celebrated in the US Congress.
“The warped abandonment of the law and fundamental standards of human rights is something that myself, and the SNP, simply cannot sit by and idly watch happen.
“If suspected war criminals can be welcomed as heroes, whilst at the very same time there is not a single child in Gaza who has not lost a member of their family – then where will this end?
“Labour has a choice to make, and I would argue, a very simple one.
“The ICC must be supported and the applications for arrest warrants must be allowed to proceed.
“If not, the UK government is signalling that it will follow in the Tories footsteps and fail to take steps to end the impunity for perpetrators of the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.”
