UK must act now Israeli officials have confessed to ethnic cleansing Gaza, PFB says


MEMO
December 2, 2024 

Palestinians carrying belongings on their way in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza due to the recent Israeli attacks on November 12, 2024. [Dawoud Abo Alkas – Anadolu Agency]


The “shocking confession” by former Israeli Minister of Defence and Chief of Staff, Moshe Ya’alon, that Israel is engaged in ethnic cleansing in Gaza “exposes the gravity of the crimes committed and underscores the urgency of international accountability”, the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB) said in a statement yesterday.

With this in mind, PFB added that it is “deeply troubling that key figures in the UK, such as Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy, persist in denying the reality of genocide and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians,” in spite of “the overwhelming evidence and the testimonies of survivors, human rights organisations, and now, even Israeli insiders.”

It called on the UK government to “formally acknowledge the well-documented genocide and ethnic cleansing carried out by the Israeli occupation”, halt its “political and military” backing of Israel, and hold Israeli officials accountable for their actions, impose sanctions, travel bans and asset freezes “on those responsible for these atrocities.”

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“The UK should champion international resolutions affirming Palestinian rights, including ending the occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state,” PFB added in its statement, adding that the “government must align its policies with the moral conscience of its citizens and their calls for justice.”

In an interview with Democracy TV on Saturday, Ya’alon criticised the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, saying: “We are being dragged into occupation, annexation, ethnic cleansing – look at the north of the Strip – displacement, and Jewish settlement.”