In his book A Different Kind of War: The UN Sanctions Regime in Iraq, Hans-Christof von Sponeck explains why he believes Tony Blair should have been investigated for genocide and war crimes in the lead up to second Gulf War. Two decades later, Peter Oborne sets out the case for investigating two more British prime ministers for complicity in crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The Blair government could be said to have laid the foundations for the complicity that is described in Oborne’s book. Blair was often described as a successor to Thatcher, but on Israel Thatcher saw the importance of upholding international law. At that time, following violence against anti-occupation protests, the British representative at the UN condemned Israel thus:
“They [the Jewish people] were denied the status of equals in their own lands. They were persecuted and hounded, millions to their death. Israel was founded as a place where such dreadful events could not and would not happen. For many of us, it is painful that the echoes of that old intolerance, that harsh belief in the right of might, should be heard there today.” (p.127)
Pre-7 October response to Israeli actions
In the book, Oborne describes an incident during the Lebanon war of 2006 which saw three Israeli soldiers killed. The Israeli response was to destroy the Dahyia suburb of Beirut, killing hundreds of civilians. The practice of destroying entire communities would be referred to later as the Dahyia doctrine.
The lack of a meaningful response from Blair’s government to this atrocity, Oborne asserts, signalled that the UK would “allow Israel to slaughter civilians without consequence” (p.109).
The author takes us through the mantras that the UK Government employ still in response to Israeli atrocities and war crimes. The all too familiar approaches include:
“Remind everybody that Israel has the right to defend itself…
Limit discussion of Palestinian victims…
Issue futile calls for investigation..
Blame the enemy when talks fail…
Reiterate support for 2 state solution.” (p.117-120)
The UK media
The Hamas attack on 7 October was horrific. Civilians found hiding in bomb shelters were attacked with grenades and raking gunfire.
The British media, though, focused on reporting atrocities that didn’t happen, such as claiming that 40 babies were killed and beheaded, that babies were found in ovens, and that children’s bodies were piled high at Kibbutz Beeri. To this day, many still believe these reports were real, though they have now been disproven.
Thousands of stories were written with no context and no mention of the blockade of seventeen years, the ongoing occupation and settlement of Palestinian territory, the incarceration of thousands of Palestinians, the Hannibal directive, or the Dahiya doctrine.
Reporting frequently dehumanises Palestinians, portraying them, Oborne says:
“… as savages, no right to humane treatment, just like the Native Americans or the Indian Mutiny in the wars against the indigenous, colonised, or enslaved.” (p.72)
The media fails to portray the full horror inflicted on the Palestinians in Gaza to the British public. Yet, as Oborne explains, the rest of the world sees it, adding to the contempt for the UK around the world (p.210).
Oborne describes how the events surrounding the November 2024 football match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax in Amsterdam provide a case study of the Israeli government’s influence on the media.
A 50-second clip showing Israeli football fans chasing down three locals following the game was presented to the world as evidence of a “pogrom” against the Israeli fans. Later, the Mayor of Amsterdam regretted echoing the Israeli framing of the incident, and noted that:
“At 3am, Prime Minister Netanyahu was already giving a lecture about what happened in Amsterdam, while we were still gathering facts.” (p.225)
Parliamentary shenanigans
Of the opposition parties, only the SNP has challenged the government on Gaza. In February 2024, in one of the few opposition day debates allocated to the SNP, their motion threatened to expose the split within the Labour Party. Sir Keir Starmer, then Leader of the Opposition, was under pressure:
“With 100 MPs threatening to support the SNP motion, he tabled his own ‘watered down ceasefire motion’ breaking the convention that one opposition party would not seek to counter another. [House of Commons Speaker] Hoyle chose to call the Labour motion, against the advice of the clerks after Starmer had met with him.” (p.86)
This was an extraordinary act, and the book brings the story to life with a Speaker, under pressure from the Labour leader who would soon be Prime Minister, denying the SNP.
The Labour, Conservative, and Reform parties all maintained their uncritical support for Netenyahu. Nigel Farage complained that it was an “insult to the Israelis” to suggest that “civilians had been targeted” in Gaza (p.32).
The July 2024 UK general election saw a number of independent MPs elected on a platform of solidarity with the Palestinian people. As a Labour Cabinet took the reins of power:
“…historian Mark Curtis noted that a quarter of all MPs, including one third of the Starmer cabinet, have been funded by pro-Israel groups.” (p.129)
Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
In 2023, South Africa brought a case to the ICJ against Israel, alleging that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. In the book, Oborne examines the defence presented by Israel.
Perhaps the most damning allegations, of genocidal intent (p.186-188), are often the hardest to demonstrate. However, in this case there were many recorded examples:
- The rhetoric of Israeli former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, former Energy Minister now Defence Minister Yisrael Katz, and President Isaac Herzog being recorded and repeated by soldiers;
- A Lt Col calling his men to put to death men women and children, infants, cattle and sheep, camels, and donkeys;
- A soldier on Instagram claiming, “We need to destroy Gaza, end this story once and for all. To turn Gaza into beaches and soccer fields, a place that is ours”.
The ICJ ruled it plausible that genocide is being committed. The court ordered Israel to take urgent measures to stop the army committing acts that may be genocide and provide humanitarian aid.
The judgement was criticised by the UK Government and the order of the court largely ignored by Israel. The author lists some 24 authorities who believe that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza (p.193).
Complicity
The details of how the UK assisted Israel in its daily slaughter and destruction in Gaza, all magnified by starvation and disease, are set out in the book. These include using the RAF to provide military capabilities that Israel did not possess and a logistics hub on Cyprus delivering weapons and munitions to Israel. When Iran retaliated, RAF planes were scrambled to Israel’s defence.
Following the judgement of the ICJ, the UK Government was instructed, along with other nations, to take action to prevent a genocide being perpetrated. Action against Israel could have included stopping arms sales, ending military support, and implementing sanctions.
Help for the Palestinian people could have included setting up a war crimes tribunal, submitting evidence to the ICC in the Hague, using the Royal Navy to break the blockade, and making a case for implementing a no-fly zone.
Had such action been taken, over a hundred thousand Palestinians would have been saved from death or injury. As with Blair, there is no possibility of ministers being prosecuted under the International Criminal Court Act 2001, as for government ministers:
“…proceedings for an offence shall not be instituted except by or with the consent of the Attorney General” (p.262)
An Attorney General appointed by a Prime Minister is unlikely act against one.
The book’s final chapter is a roll call of those also complicit such as politicians, officials, the military, arms suppliers, journalists, newspapers, broadcasters, and lobbyists (p. 258-261).
None of the UK’s major parties – Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, or Reform – are prepared to call out Israel as an apartheid state, as the Bishop of Gloucester and many others have done. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the UK should have stood alongside South Africa in making the case against Israel at the ICJ. It is to our eternal shame that instead we continued to act against the interest of the Palestinian people.
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