‘International Obligations’ – Over 800 Lawyers, Judges Urge UK to Sanction Israel 

May 28, 2025 News
Israel continued to carry out massacres in Gaza. (Photo: via QNN)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

The signatories also urged the government to consider using its role in the UN Security Council “to initiate proceedings under Article 6 of the UN Charter” to suspend or expel Israel from the world body.

More than 800 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges have called on the UK government to “act in accordance with its fundamental international obligations” and impose sanctions on the Israeli government and its ministers, along with other “concrete actions.”

“All States, including the UK, are legally obliged to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent and punish genocide; to ensure respect for international humanitarian law; and to bring to an end violations of jus cogens norms of international law. The UK’s actions to date have failed to meet those standards,” the signatories stated in a letter addressed to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

They stated that “genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide occurring.”

Limited Aid

The limited aid now allowed in Gaza, the signatories noted, after an 11-week blockade on food, medical supplies and the essentials of human existence, “remains gravely insufficient to address the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.”

They said Israel “continues simultaneously to escalate its military operations” in Gaza, while senior Israeli Ministers have expressed their intention to “take control of all the territory of the [Gaza] Strip” and “conquer, cleanse and stay – until Hamas is destroyed”, further stating “what remains of the Strip is also being wiped out.”

“War crimes, crimes against humanity, and serious violations of international humanitarian law are being committed in the oPt,” they added.

In addition, Israel “has been found by the International Court of Justice in July 2024 to be violating peremptory norms of international law across the entire oPt in denying the Palestinian people their right to self-determination and unlawfully annexing territory acquired by force.”

Forced Displacement

The signatories also pointed out that Israel’s May 2025 plan to “forcibly and permanently displace the population of Gaza to small areas of the Gaza Strip, and coerce their emigration to other countries,” is “in grave violation of international humanitarian law, international criminal law and international human rights law.”

Israel has moreover decided in May 2025 to facilitate and accelerate settlement development in the West Bank (including the territory designated as Area C under the Oslo Accords), they said.

UN: Israel’s Gaza Aid Plan Forces Displacement, Breaches Humanitarian Principles

“Both measures exacerbate Israel’s ongoing and longstanding breach of the jus cogens (non-derogable) right of self-determination of the Palestinian people,” the letter noted.

The signatories welcomed the joint statement on May 19, by the leaders of the UK, France and Canad which “rightly” recognized that the level of human suffering in Gaza is “intolerable.”

‘Concrete Actions’ Outlined

The statement, they said, warned of possible “further concrete actions” against Israel.

They therefore urged “concrete actions” in a two-page letter accompanied by a 35-page legal memorandum, that the UK government:

  • Use all available means to secure an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to ensure the urgent, unconditional and unimpeded resumption of aid, at scale, to the population of Gaza;
  • Use all available means to secure the lifting of Israel’s ban upon the United Nations Relief and Works Agency throughout the entire oPt;
  • Impose financial and immigration sanctions in relation to Israeli Ministers and other civil and military personel reasonably suspected of involvement in unlawful conduct;
  • Review existing trade ties with Israel; suspend the 2030 Roadmap for closer UK-Israel partnership; and impose trade sanctions upon Israel; and
  • Confirm that the UK will adhere to its obligation to execute arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court in relation to the oPt.

Suspension from UN

The signatories also urged the government to consider using its role in the UN Security Council “to initiate proceedings under Article 6 of the UN Charter in response to Israel’s sustained and systematic obstruction of UNRWA and wider attacks on the United Nations system.”

Israel’s banning of UNRWA from operating in the oPT, “coupled with legislative and administrative efforts to dismantle the Agency, and its attacks on UN premises, property, and personnel, amount to a grave and ongoing breach of core obligations under the Charter.”

International Law and Israel’s Reign of Terror in Gaza

They pointed out that where a Member State persistently violates Charter principles, Article 6 “provides that it may be suspended or expelled from the Organisation by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council.”

“Israel’s conduct meets the threshold for such consideration under Article 6, in light of its unparalleled assault on the United Nations as an institution and on its personnel,” they said.

Staggering Death Toll

Since Israel’s reneging on the ceasefire on March 18, it has killed and wounded thousands of Palestinians throughout the Gaza Strip through a bloody and ongoing aerial bombardment.

On October 7, 2023, following a Palestinian Resistance operation in southern Israel, the Israeli military launched a genocidal war against the Palestinians, killing over 53,000, wounding more than 122,000, with over 14,000 still missing.

Only Six Clinics Left: Gaza’s Health System Crushed under Israeli Bombing

Despite habitual condemnation by many countries around the world of the Israeli genocide, little has been done to hold Israel accountable.

ICJ, ICC Cases

Israel is currently under investigation for the crime of genocide by the International Court of Justice, while accused war criminals — including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — are now officially wanted by the International Criminal Court.

The Israeli genocide has been largely defended, supported, and financed by Washington and a few other Western powers.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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