Israel committing war crimes, atrocities ‘flagrantly and in plain sight’ – Smith

Alameen Templeton

Mark Smith, Britain’s top arms assessment expert who resigned Friday over UK arms exports to genocidal Israel, says the Israeli military is committing atrocities “flagrantly, openly and in plain sight”.

Smith resigned, saying his country may be complicit in war crimes: “There is no justification for the UK’s continued arms sales to Israel yet somehow it continues.”

The UK government has now switched tack on trying to keep the arms flowing, from simply ignoring the growing mountain of evidence to now slowing the inevitable by insisting on re-examining and reconsidering all weapons for “assault or defensive needs”.

It’s not known how long the “review” will take, but a promised date to introduce the necessary legislation to parliament came and went last week, raising the hackles and suspicions of activists.

Contrast that with Colombia that on August 18 suspended coal exports to Israel, with President Gustavo Petro citing concerns Israel might use the fuel to make arms.

Smith told the BBC: “What we can see is appalling acts of violence perpetrated on civilians, on civilian property It’s actually quite clear, even from what you can see in open source… that the state of Israel is perpetrating war crimes in plain sight.

“Anybody who has a basic understanding of these things can see that there are war crimes being committed not once, not twice, not a few times, but quite flagrantly and openly and regularly.”

Smith said in a statement Sunday his resignation decision followed repeated attempts to bring the illegal nature of Britain’s arms sales to the attention of his bosses – including to new foreign minister David Lammy – but he was brushed off.

Smith’s letter first emerged when journalist Hind Hassan posted its contents on X Friday evening.

“It is with sadness that I resign after a long career in the diplomatic service, however I can no longer carry out my duties in the knowledge that this Department may be complicit in war crimes,” the letter says.

“I have raised this at every level in the organisation, including through an official whistle blowing investigation and received nothing more than ‘thank you we have noted your concern’.”

The writer says being disregarded in this way “is deeply troubling. It is my duty as a public servant to raise this”. It concludes with a call to officials “to join the many colleagues who have also raised concerns over this issue”.

A senior official in the department later sent an email to staff after Smith’s resignation, saying their concerns were “heard and a listening session will be held soon”.

Britain’s foreign ministry declined to comment.

Smith was the lead author on the central assessment governing the legality of UK arms sales to Israel.

The first British official to resign over Britain’s enablement of Israel’s Gaza genocide attracted widespread support online.

“I hope that more diplomats will follow the brave lead of Mark Smith and speak up against the enablers of Israel’s atrocities,” Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, posted on X.

Yasmine Ahmed, Human Rights Watch’s UK director, described Smith as “courageous”.

“As George Orwell said ‘Freedom is the right to tell people what they don’t want to hear’,” she posted.

Gary Spedding, an independent cross-party consultant on Israel-Palestine said the resignation revealed “the serious concerns and discomfort internally among Foreign Office officials and employees over their potential complicity in violations of international humanitarian law,” he said.

“The threat of prosecution from lawyers hangs over their heads. This is an outrageous position that the government has put our civil servants into and must be addressed urgently by a massive policy shift regarding Israel-Palestine.”

There have been signs of growing tension in corners of the civil service over London’s role in the genocide on Gaza, 10 months after it started, with reports saying 300 staffers have voiced their disquiet with Britain’s involvement.

Britain’s Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has requested a cabinet meeting over the Gaza genocide and its implication for government employees.

Concerns are growing over fears Lammy has succumbed to pressure from Israel after he asked for legal advice on Britain’s role in the genocide in his first day in office.

But he has since backtracked on promised to introduce restrictions to Israeli arms sales on the final day of parliament. But that was last week.

Now, it is all being held up as the government goes about identifying which UK-made weapons may be used defensively and which are for offensive use – which now seems to be snowballing into a bid to head off any restrictions on feeding Israel’s appetite for genocide.