Top genocide scholar calls Starmer and Lammy ‘hypocrites’ over Gaza stance

One of the world’s leading scholars on genocide, Willian Schabas, on Monday denounced British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy for refusing to label Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide.

“These people are hypocrites. They speak with a forked tongue. They do not interpret or apply the Genocide Convention in a consistent manner,” Schabas told Middle East Eye.

“The statements of British parliamentarians vary depending upon whether they are referring to their friends or their enemies,” said Schabas, who is president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and the author of more than 20 books on genocide and other international law topics.

Last week, Starmer was asked to share his definition of genocide and to outline what action he was taking to save the lives of people in Gaza.

In response, he said he was "well aware of the definition of genocide" and that this explains why he has "never described or referred to [the situation in Gaza] as genocide". 

'If it is the UK's policy to leave such determinations to the courts, why did Starmer and Lammy vote for the resolution on the Uyghur?'

- William Schabas

His remarks followed similar denials from Foreign Secretary Lammy, who suggested that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza because millions of people have not been killed.

Schabas noted that Lammy and Starmer voted in favour of a House of Commons motion in 2021 condemning China for genocide against the Uyghur minority.

“Although there is some evidence of persecution of Uyghur in China, there is no serious evidence of killings. Not millions. None. The treatment of Uyghur in China and that of Palestinian Arabs cannot be compared,” Schabas told MEE.

Schabas also referred to Starmer’s role as a lawyer representing Croatia in its genocide case against Serbia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2014, in which he argued that Serbia had committed genocide in Croatia.

“Again, the acts of Serbia in Croatia and those of Israel in Gaza bear no comparison,” said Schabas.

“If it is the UK's policy to leave such determinations to the courts, why did Starmer and Lammy vote for the resolution on the Uyghur?”

Additionally, Schabas noted that the UK, in November 2023, intervened in the Gambia v Myanmar case before the ICJ, supporting the claim that Myanmar committed genocide against the Rohingya. 

“According to the UN reports on Myanmar, approximately 10,000 Rohingya were killed out of a population of about two million, in other words, one comparable in size to that of Gaza,” he explained.

Schabas pointed out that the UK’s position on genocide in different cases has varied depending on political alliances.

For example, in the UK’s intervention in the Myanmar case, which it submitted jointly with Canada, Germany, France, Denmark, and the Netherlands, it argued for a less restrictive approach to the definition of genocide than the one adopted in earlier cases. 

However, Schabas added that in its August intervention in Ukraine vs. Russia, the UK argued that the ICJ should stick to its restrictive approach.

When approached by Middle East Eye for comment, Starmer's office referred the request to the foreign office. 

A spokesperson of the Foreign Office reiterated the same remarks shared with MEE earlier this week, saying genocide should be declared by a competent court after consideration of evidence in a judicial process. 

In an interview with MEE last week, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, accused Lammy of being a "genocide denier" and said the UK had done "nothing" to prevent the crime in Gaza.

On 29 October, Lammy suggested that Israel was not committing genocide in Gaza because millions of people had not been killed.

Terms like genocide, Lammy told parliament, "were largely used when millions of people lost their lives in crises like Rwanda, the Second World War, the Holocaust, and the way that they are used now undermines the seriousness of that term".

In response to Albanese's remarks, the Foreign Office said that Lammy didn’t specify that genocide required “millions of people to be killed”. 

“He simply observed that the term has ‘largely’ applied to such cases,” a Foreign Office spokesperson told MEE. 

“The UK‘s long-standing policy is that any judgement as to whether genocide has occurred is a matter for a competent national or international court, rather than for governments or non-judicial bodies,” a spokesperson said.

'Flippant denial of genocide'

An ICJ interim ruling in January said it was plausible that Israel had breached the 1948 Genocide Convention during its military campaign in Gaza, which started in October 2023.

Albanese submitted two reports on Gaza to the UN Human Rights Council this year. Her report “Anatomy of a Genocide”, which was submitted in March, concluded: “Genocidal acts [in Gaza] were approved and given effect following statements of genocidal intent issued by senior military and government officials.”

Another report in October added that genocidal acts in Gaza should be understood within the context of decades of settler colonialism and that Israel should be held accountable for orchestrating and failing to prevent such acts. 

On Monday, an alliance of five independent MPs, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, wrote to the prime minister to ask whether he received any legal advice before declaring his opinion about the situation in Gaza, where more than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed.

They wrote that the government’s “flippant denial of genocide egregiously downplays the suffering of Palestinians and shows contempt for international law”.

The alliance also sent a letter to the attorney general asking him whether he has offered any legal advice to Starmer about the definition of genocide in this case.

They cited the three interim rulings by the ICJ this year recognising the plausibility of genocide in Gaza and a UN committee report on 14 November concluding that Israel's policies "are consistent with the characteristics of genocide".