Gaza: UK charity calls for end to arms trade with Israel in new billboard campaign
A British charity has launched a nationwide billboard campaign calling on the UK government to end its arms sales and trade agreements with Israel if it continues its bombardment of Gaza.
Human Aid and Advocacy, which works worldwide, launched its "No to Genocide" campaign on Thursday in dozens of locations across the country.
Using quotes from Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declaring a "complete siege on Gaza" and pictures of starvation unfolding in the Palestinian enclave, the charity said it aims to mobilise communities to stand up for Palestine.
Nur Chowdhury, who founded Human Aid in 2010, said the group had been organising the campaign for nearly a month but faced delays due to some advertising agencies cancelling at the last minute.
"We originally planned to go with one company, but despite our advert not breaking their terms and conditions, they refused because they thought it could offend someone," Chowdhury told Middle East Eye.
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"We then exchanged emails with the company and found another one that said they'd take on our advert if the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) approved it.
"The ASA admitted that we might court some controversy given the topic we are running an advert for but concluded that it did not breach any of the rules."
Responding to claims that the billboard campaign is provocative, Choudhury said that the advert was factual and that the ASA approved the facts before being placed on billboards.
Israel's assault on Gaza has killed at least 32,500 Palestinians, including at least 14,000 children.
'Hypocrisy'
Choudhury, who has a team working in Gaza, said 18 members of his team have been killed in the bombardment.
“There is a degree of hypocrisy in how, on the one hand, the US and Britain are dropping aid and on the other hand selling the arms being used to kill Palestinians in Gaza,” said Choudhury.
“The whole situation is dehumanising to the Palestinians and creating havoc on the ground.”
As the death toll rises and the UN warns that an Israeli-made famine is imminent, pressure is mounting on Britain and other western allies to stop selling arms to Israel.
On Wednesday, over 130 parliamentarians signed a letter calling on the UK government to halt arms sales to Israel.
The cross-party letter accused London of having "failed to act" in response to "overwhelming" evidence of Israeli violations of international law, and concerns that UK-made weapons are being used in Gaza.
The letter came days after Canada said it was halting future arms sales to Israel.
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