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Lammy must halt arms to Israel, say Scottish Greens
Scottish Green Party co-leader Patrick Harvie during the party's General Election manifesto launch at Summerhall in Edinburgh, June 20, 2024

LABOUR’S new Foreign Secretary must intervene to halt arms sales to Israel if Britain is to end its complicity in the Gazan genocide, the Scottish Greens demanded today.

The party has taken the opportunity to remind David Lammy of the “serious concerns” he had on Israeli military conduct as he begins his first week at the head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Devolopment Office.

In opposition, Mr Lammy had also called for the last Tory government to release its legal advice on arms sales to Israel amid concerns that the government was in breach of its own arms export criteria which preclude sales if there was “clear risk” they may be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law.

The Campaign Against the Arms Trade has calculated that arms sales to Israel have been worth £500 million over the last decade.

Scottish Green co-leader Patrick Harvie said: “For the last nine months the Tories have armed and supported Israeli forces while they have inflicted grave war crimes and atrocities on the people of Gaza.

“It has been a moral disgrace. Now we have a new government, and a new foreign secretary.

“They say they are committed to working for a ceasefire, but those words are meaningless if they continue to arm Israel.

“There are no two ways about it. Every day that they allow weapons to flow and provide military support and political cover is another day of complicity in genocide.

“With the people of Gaza suffering one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, it is vital that we see an end to UK arms sales and a recognition of Palestine’s right to self-determination.”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy responded: “I made the solemn undertaking in parliament that I would look at the legal assessments, and I will begin that process, of course, as soon as I’m able to.”

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