Israel suffering UK election blues as relations grow frosty

Muhammad Amin

England is preparing to withdraw its objections to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants of Israeli leaders, including its prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The governing Labour Party under new prime minister Kier Starmer is facing growing criticism from within its ranks for its many leaders’ “soft” approach to the Gaza genocide.

The New York Times is reporting the move would mark a significant bifurcation between UK and US policy on Gaza that had been marching in lockstep alongside Tel Aviv since the start of the genocide. It cited two unnamed sourced briefed on the government’s deliberations.

Meanwhile, Middle East Eye reports Starmer’s cabinet is also preparing to restrict arms sales to the Nazi state. Under the Conservatives, London ignored top legal practitioners’ and academics’ advice that Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza.

England’s own laws forbid its government from selling arms to known human rights abusers.

“Well-informed sources within the Labour Party told Middle East Eye that in the coming days the government is likely to introduce some restrictions on arms sales but not suspend sales entirely.

“The development comes after Foreign Secretary David Lammy said last week that he requested a comprehensive review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law on his first day in office,” MME reports.

Any ban is likely to target offensive weapons only, sources said.

“The foreign secretary told MPs last week that given the attacks by the Houthis, Hezbollah and Hamas on Israel, it would ‘not be right to have a blanket ban between our countries’,” MME says.

This comes days after the new Labour administration announced it is resuming critical funding to the UN’s agency for UNRWA, which stopped abruptly in January after unproven allegations of “terrorism” were brought against its staff by Israel.

The US is now the only country maintaining its block on funding to UNRWA, the main agency delivering aid to starving Palestinians in Gaza as Washington continues to oppose the ICC arrest warrants.