His opinion is stark. “The British Army would under no circumstances have fired on that convoy even if we could positively identify a Hamas gunman getting into one of the cars. You would know that every single person travelling in the car would die. It would be inconceivable that the British or the Americans would do that. The fact the Israelis destroyed all three cars is utterly unforgivable.”
“Hamas is a terrorist organisation completely beyond the pale. What Hamas doesn’t do is claim to be anything else than what they are. The Israelis claim to be a civilised, western-facing armed force. They are plainly not.” Those were the words of Chris Lincoln-Jones, a former British Army major who has worked with the Israel Defence Force, in yesterday’s Times, following Monday’s deaths.
I have quoted him for the simple reason that he is far more likely than myself to know where Israel’s airstrike on Gaza aid workers, killing three Britons, falls within accepted warfare. ‘Friendly fire’ is a horrific reality of modern conflicts. Britain’s record is far from unblemished. From Dresden to Tripoli, innocent have died because of our aerial campaigns and those of our allies.
With Hamas’s enthusiasm for using innocents as human shields, civilians will inevitably be killed as part of the IDF’s efforts to eliminate the butchers of October 7th. Six months on, and that day’s horrors have not lost their ability to sicken. Murder, rape, the slaughter and burning of babies and children, the abduction of hostages. 1,139 dead. Hamas are genocidal butchers, and should be loathed by any rational human being.
I am a great enthusiast for the state of Israel: a liberal democratic beacon of innovation, pluralism, and ambition, nestled amongst the dictatorships, theocracies, and failed states of the Middle East. I am as appalled as the former Home Secretary at the surge in antisemitism since October 7th. To find and destroy the barbarians of Hamas was Israel’s natural response to the horrors, not least to recover the hostages.
I’m no expert on international law. Your opinion of the letter signed by 600 senior legal figures will be coloured by your view on the war, the legal profession, and the individuals involved. It would be strange for Conservatives to get on their high horses about the sanctity of international law, just as more MPs creep closer to a willingness to break with it to get flights to Rwanda. Even so, Egypt must fulfill its international obligations, whatever Britain’s position.
I hope that clarifies that what comes next is not from a persistent Israel critic. I profiled the last of the Tory Arabists, but I do not consider myself one. So let me be clear: after the deaths of James Kirby, James Henderson, and John Chapman, we must end arms shipments to Israel, and make clear our anger both at the murder of innocent Britons, and the direction of Israel’s wider campaign.
Perhaps our support should have shifted earlier. Should we have drawn the line when it became clear Benjamin Netanyahu planned to invade Rafah, home of 1.4 million displaced Palestinians, courting a humanitarian catastrophe? Or when it became clear his government had obstructed the flow of aid and human rights organisations? Or when the number of Gazans dead surpassed 30,000?
That tally comes from the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. But I see nobody denying the death toll is in the tens of thousands. How many dead Gazan men, women, and children – civilians or combatants – are sufficient recompense for the 1, 139? Is thirty eyes for an eye an ethic we are willing to support? Can we be complicit in the deaths of innocents – supporters of October 7th or not?
By continuing arms sales and limiting our condemnation, we increasingly are. The truth is that our party, long a passionate supporter of Israel, has often been too unwilling to play the critical friend. We have long refused to raise our voice over illegal settlements. We restrain our criticism now as it becomes increasingly clear elements of the IDF are out of the control of their government.
Supports of Israel’s efforts will argue that war is hell. The spiking casualty list is a tragic corollary to a necessary war to destroy Hamas. Invading Rafah is necessary, whatever the human cost, to prevent October 7th from happening again. Yet two people cannot share one land. The reality of the situation leads only one way. If Netanyahu wants to make a desert and call it peace, Britain should have no part of it.
Of course, suspending arms sales and condemning Tel Aviv’s approach will do little to discourage Israel. But it may put more pressure on the United States to do the same, a pressure that will only grow as the body count piles ever higher. The withdrawal of their support, in the words of Lord Ricketts, would be a “real game changer”, undermining Israel’s efforts, as in Lebanon in 1982.
Critics will highlight the specific focus on Israel. What about, for example, sales to Saudi Arabia during their war on the Houthis? But we should have halted them as well. The would-be Lawrences of Arabia in the Foreign Office should realise Britain is no longer an important player in the Middle East. Until we raise defence spending, we cannot hope to match the influence of Washington, Beijing, or Moscow, whatever CCHQ might suggest.
But what we can do is show some respect for the rights of our citizens. The days when Britain sent a gunboat in defence of the principle of Civis Romanus sum are long over. But we should have the courage, the dignity, and the anger to go further than ticking off an Ambassador and having a tense phone call with Netanyahu. Would he have been so meek if we had killed three Israelis?
We can be horrified by October 7th, loathe and fight antisemitism, and make clear our opposition to Iranian aggression. But we cannot aide and abet the mass death of civilians, especially after the killing of three of our own. If Rishi Sunak wants to look himself in the mirror, and even before he has received Foreign Office guidance on whether Israel is breaking international law, he must end arms exports immediately, and make clear there is a line that Britain will not cross.
It is no less than the memory of Kirby, Henderson, and Chapman deserves.
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Author: William Atkinson
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