Green Party asks UK government ‘what threshold must be met’ to prevent genocide in Gaza
Green Party MPs have written to Foreign Secretary David Lammy asking what it would take for the UK to move to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people.
“We are aware of the Government’s position that genocide can only be determined by a credible international court,” the MPs - Ellie Chowns, Sian Berry, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay - wrote on Wednesday evening.
“There is a difference between saying something is genocide and that there is a plausible and serious risk of genocide, and this letter is asking about the UK Government’s position on the latter point.”
Denyer and Ramsay are co-leaders of the party.
The MPs asked Lammy for “clarification” on whether Britain has a “duty to take action to prevent genocide in Gaza”, as well as on whether the government “has assessed that there is a serious risk of genocide” there.
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They further asked for clarification on “what threshold must be met that would trigger the United Kingdom’s obligation to prevent, and the corresponding duty to take action, as a state party to the Genocide Convention (1948) and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court”.
Chowns told MEE: "We know the government has not described the Israeli government’s assault on Palestinians in Gaza as a genocide – the prime minister keeps telling us.
"But has it actually assessed the risk? And what will it take for the government to recognise that obligation and act on it to prevent genocide?"
In September, the Green Party voted to recognise Israel's actions in Gaza as a genocide, becoming the first major British political party to do so.
This came after the party won an unprecedented four seats in parliament in the July general election, having made Gaza a prominent plank of its campaign in several areas.
'Well aware'
Britain’s political parties are heavily divided over the question of whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The Scottish National Party expelled John Mason, a member of the Scottish parliament, last month after he said: “If Israel wanted to commit genocide, they would have killed ten times as many.”
And on 29 October, SNP MP Chris Law accused Lammy of showing “blatant contempt” for Palestinians over his denial that Israel is committing genocide.
The Green Party letter on Wednesday comes after independent MP Ayoub Khan asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer in parliament earlier in the day why the government has not classified Israel’s war on Gaza as genocide.
“Genocide is not about numbers,” Khan said, in an apparent reference to Lammy’s claim in late October that there is no genocide in Gaza because millions of people have not been killed.
“It's about intent. And the intent of the Israeli government and the IDF has been explicitly clear in words and in actions over the past 400 days.”
Khan further asked the prime minister to “share his definition of genocide with this House”.
Starmer replied: “It would be wise to start a question like that by reference to what happened in October of last year,” to applause from Labour MPs.
“I'm well aware of the definition of genocide, and that is why I've never referred to it as genocide.”
Gary Spedding, a cross-party consultant on Israel-Palestine in parliament, told MEE: "The prime minister isn't even bothering to answer what the government's definition of genocide actually is, and continues to refuse to act in alignment with our obligations under international law in terms of our duty to prevent, and act to stop, genocide.
"Our government are actively avoiding any acknowledgement that there is a serious risk of genocide so as to not trigger or be seen to be required to trigger our obligation to take action."
Declassified UK reported on Wednesday that Britain has continued exporting parts for Israeli Air Force planes, since suspending 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel in September.
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