Following the ICJ two day hearing of South Africa's genocide case against Israel, the UK government, along with the United States, Canada, Germany and Guatemala, have publicly announced it's support for Israel. Please write to your MP, asking for your letter to be forwarded to the Foreign Secretary, to challenge this stance in the strongest terms - a sample letter follows.
Contact details for your MP may be found here.
The letter should also be sent to the UK Ambassador to the UN, Dame Barbara Woodward, at info@una.org.uk. The letter should be addressed to 'Her Excellency Dame Barbara Woodward, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, UK Permanent Mission to the UN, New York' and should begin with 'Your Excellency'.
Dear [Name]
We urge you to immediately invoke the Genocide Convention on behalf of the UK at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza. South Africa launched this case on December 29, giving our country an opportunity to follow its lead.
Over 24,000 dead, 51,000 wounded, 1.9 million uprooted, and a looming famine which is the direct and predictable result of Israel denying food, water and other necessities for life to the people of Gaza. The level of civilian death and destruction goes far beyond any possible level of self-defence; it looks like revenge, and a precursor to eliminating the Palestinians from Gaza by death or displacement and by making Gaza uninhabitable.
Parties to the Genocide Convention are obliged to act to prevent genocide; therefore, action should be immediate. This ought to be a priority for the UK, because we helped write the Genocide Convention.
A Declaration of Intervention filed with the ICJ in support of the South African case against Israel is one way to ensure that all acts of genocide are stopped and those responsible are held accountable. Israel’s imposition of collective punishment on Gaza, uprooting and relentlessly bombing civilians, denying an imprisoned population water, food, medicine and fuel – making life unliveable – all this meets the criteria for the crime of genocide.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, has said: "the massive death, destruction, displacement, hunger, loss, and grief of the last 100 days are straining our shared humanity." How right he is.
We urge you to immediately file a Declaration of Intervention in support of the South African case against Israel at the International Court of Justice to stop the relentless killing and destruction in Gaza.
Best regards,