This week the abject ‘mother of all parliaments’ voted overwhelmingly against a ceasefire, thus supporting the continuing genocide of the Palestinian people. This was not a surprise. It is not the first time and it will not be the last that Britain misses an opportunity to be on the right side of history.
Meanwhile, in comparison to this immoral act from our elected representative, as I type this, courageous members of Palestine Action are on the roof of Leonardo UK in my home city Southampton, shutting them down. Leonardo UK design and manufacture weapons components and technology and sell directly to Israel. Last year Leonardo completed a merger between its US subsidiary Leonardo DRS and Israeli technology defence company RADA Electronic Industries. They are guilty, guilty, guilty of aiding and abetting this genocide of the Palestinian people.
(Palestinian Actionists occupying Leonardo, Southampton, UK, November 16th 2023)
Alongside these legitimate direct actions, 100s of thousands of people have been taking to the streets in the UK, continually and for weeks, demanding a ceasefire and an end to the 75 years of occupation and apartheid of the Palestinian people and their land.
The British political and corporate establishment continues to aid and directly abet the war crimes being committed upon the Palestinian people in all historic Palestine. The RAF have made 17 military flights to Israel from their base in Cyprus, since the destruction of Gaza began. They have denied supplying “lethal aid” through these flights but that does not mean what they are delivering is not supporting the Israeli military to carry out these constant war crimes. The UK government continues to allow and support the arms sales of companies like Leonardo to Israel and has been selling to Israel for decades.
When the warrants for suspected war crimes are issued, and they will be coming, members of the UK government and parliament, companies selling weapons to Israel and the media reporting Israeli government and military reports as fact, should be concerned. Arming, providing political and diplomatic support, and spreading misinformation or support for genocide through the media are crimes punishable under international law.
Justice must prevail across the globe over what we are bearing witness to, and the results must be the Palestinian people being free, from the river to the sea.
The post The British Parliament Votes for Genocide as the British People Demand a Ceasefire appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
This post was originally published on CounterPunch.org.
