It seems clear the UK has assisted Israel’s breaches of international law. Surely Labour can do better than deny it | Sam Fowles

The new foreign secretary has access to data not available to the public – and has a duty to model respect for the law

  • Sam Fowles is a barrister, author and broadcaster

Britain’s history of developing and upholding international law should be a source of pride. The UK was once at the forefront of prosecuting war crimes, enshrining international human rights and developing the Geneva conventions. Recent governments, however, treated international law with contempt: successive Conservative administrations legislated to break the EU trade agreement within months of ratification, breached the refugee convention over the Rwanda plan, and repeatedly threatened to leave the European convention on human rights.

The general election offered the opportunity for a reset. One of the Starmer government’s early acts was to discontinue the UK’s attempt to block the international criminal court arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant. The new prime minister also restored funding to Unrwa.

Sam Fowles is a barrister, author and broadcaster. His full legal advice to Global Justice Now is available here

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