WORDS cannot begin to describe the level of suffering that Palestinians have endured over the past two years.

At least 63,000 Palestinians have been killed. Thousands more are still trapped under the rubble. Those who have survived will face lifelong mental health consequences that will go on for generations.

We have all seen the images. Children torn to pieces. People getting shot as they queue for a bag of flour. Entire neighbourhoods flattened.

As an MP, part of my job is to hold this government to account for the role it has played in this horror. Israel has not been able to carry out these atrocities alone. Instead, it has relied on the military, economic and political support from governments around the world, including our own. 

Many of us have continued to raise questions inside and outside Parliament about the nature of its military co-operation with Israel. Time and time again, our questions are met with silence, denial or obfuscation.

So, earlier this year, I presented a private member’s Bill to Parliament, calling for an independent, public inquiry into Britain’s involvement in Gaza.

I wanted to know: Why does our government continue to provide military support for Israel? What weapons have been supplied? Which of those weapons have been used in Gaza? Why does our government permit the supply of components for F-35 jets? 

What is RAF Akrotiri being used for? What video footage does the government have of the war zone? What intelligence has been passed on to Israel? 

What is the government’s definition of genocide? What legal advice has the government received? When will they tell us what it is? 

The Bill had the support of more than 50 MPs, alongside numerous human rights organisations. So what did the government do? It blocked it. 

It even went to the trouble of writing me a letter, explaining that “there is no need for an inquiry.” The government told me: “Such an inquiry would be unnecessary as there is no confusion about UK military operations in Gaza.”

To many of us, it is quite simple: if the government had nothing to hide, it would stop blocking our efforts to expose the truth.

That’s why we are hosting our own Gaza tribunal. We do not need the government’s permission to hold it to account. We are here to unveil the full scale of its complicity in genocide.

Over the course of two days, we will hear from Palestinians who have survived the genocide, journalists who have covered and reported on it, health and aid workers who have risked their lives to help others, as well as international legal experts, UN officials and human rights campaigners. 

They will tell us, first, what has happened in Gaza. Second, what Britain’s legal obligations are. Third, what Britain’s role has been in Gaza. And fourth, bringing this all together, whether Britain has upheld its legal obligations.

Based on the evidence we hear, we will put together a report, which we will share with the public. 
This tribunal is not a substitute for an independent inquiry. Far from it. After this tribunal, the case for an independent inquiry will, I’m sure, be even stronger. 

This tribunal comes at a crucial moment. Earlier this week, the world's leading association of genocide scholars said that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza — a judgement that is shared by several leading human rights organisations and legal experts attending the tribunal.

We are hosting the tribunal at Church House in Westminster. Nine years ago, when I was leader of the Labour Party, I was in Church House when I gave a speech in response to the publication of the Chilcot Inquiry. The Chilcot Inquiry looked into Britain’s involvement in the Iraq war, and found significant failings within the British government. Many of us campaigned against the Iraq war from the beginning. We warned it would set off a spiral of conflict, hate and misery. We came out in our hundreds of thousands to make the case for peace. We were ignored. 

It was in this building that I apologised on behalf of the Labour Party for its disastrous and deadly foreign policy. Today, history is repeating itself. Just like Iraq, the government is doing everything it can to protect itself from scrutiny. Just like Iraq, it will not succeed in its attempts to suffocate the truth. 

Today, schoolchildren are taught about history’s worst crimes against humanity. They are asked to reflect on how these crimes could have possibly occurred. And they learn the names of political figures that endorsed or enabled such atrocities.

In the near future, our history books will shame those in our government who could have stopped the genocide in Gaza, but instead allowed Israel to act with total impunity. The testimonies we will hear tomorrow and Friday will make it into those history books — and will provide a lesson in truth, accountability and justice.

This issue is not going away. We will uncover the full scale of British complicity in genocide — and we will bring about justice for the people of Palestine.

Jeremy Corbyn is independent MP for Islington North.