WE’VE all seen the images. The dead men, women and children whose only crime is that they are Palestinian. The untold number of people lying under rubble, dying of disease, suffering from forced starvation. The brutal atrocities being committed daily, as residential blocks, refugee camp tents, hospitals, schools and universities are targeted for destruction.

As Conservative MP Kit Malthouse recently put it, Israel has also replaced the previous aid distribution system in Gaza with “a shooting gallery, an abattoir, where starving people are lured out through combat zones to be shot at.” We also had the brazen interception by Israel of the Madleen, a British-flagged civilian ship carrying humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza.

These acts demand bold international leadership. It is time for the British government to wake up and listen to its own workers, many of whom are members of PCS. As proud internationalists, we won’t allow our senses to become numb to the horrific images we see from Gaza every day.

The government has a moral and legal obligation not only to rhetorically condemn some of these acts, but to prevent them all from happening in the first place. A good start would be to stop all work within the Civil Service and its related areas which in any way potentially enables acts of genocide.

PCS has long been a proud supporter of the Palestinian cause. We stand firmly with the people of Gaza, no matter what attacks we face.

At PCS’s annual delegate conference last month, our members reaffirmed their commitment to the Palestinian people in their struggle to achieve freedom from Israel’s cruel and unjust apartheid system and the achievement of a free and independent state. As general secretary, it was profoundly moving to see the unwavering solidarity from delegates with Palestinians and their cause for freedom.

Opening the debate on a Palestine motion, one PCS activist brought the room to a standstill. I remember her powerful story of how she has spent most of her two-year-old son’s life watching Palestinian people screaming into their phone cameras for someone to save them from Israeli bombs and bullets. When her son grows up and asks, “who stood up?” she said she wants to be able to say that PCS “heard the calls in Gaza and we answered.” I want the British government to hear those calls and to answer.

We will continue to answer this call. We march with the Palestine solidarity movement, we speak at its rallies and support its workplace days of action, and we fundraise and donate. We raise our members’ concerns with our parliamentary group and maintain regular contact with the Palestinian embassy in Britain.

Over the past year, we have also used our position as the largest trade for civil servants to urge the Cabinet Office to take seriously our members’ concerns about this humanitarian crisis; as well as their industrial concerns as civil servants. They are worried that work they are being asked to undertake may be contributing to potential acts of genocide committed by the Israeli state.

They are also confused. When our government swings from unconditional support for the actions of the Israeli state to a position of veiled criticism, civil servants are unclear what is expected of them and how best to fulfil their roles and obligations.

More dangerously, they are placed in a position of conflict given their obligations under the Civil Service code. They are bound by this code to act with integrity, honesty and objectivity. This includes complying with the law, including international law; upholding the administration of justice; not deceiving others; and not ignoring inconvenient facts.  

Our members are not daft. They are intelligent people. No amount of ministerial obfuscation, deflection or denial is going to reassure them when they can see the catastrophe unfolding in Gaza before their very eyes.

Given the scale of the death toll and the depth of the destruction to Palestinian society in Gaza government officials need to act quickly. As widely reported by the media, a recent letter from courageous and concerned staff in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to the Foreign Secretary powerfully urged the government to act against Israel. It was met with a reprehensible and ignorant response by senior civil servants, who gave an ultimatum: if you don’t like it, resign.

But PCS and our members are going nowhere. As well continuing to express our solidarity in the all the ways we can, we promise to fully back any member facing disciplinary action for refusing to work on arms export licences to Israel. We will continue to pressure the Cabinet Office to guarantee protections for our members worried about legal liability for potentially aiding genocidal acts. We have written to them afresh today to raise these troubling issues and seek urgent talks on them.

And as we do this, we will loudly demand justice, an end to the occupation and freedom for Palestine.