The BDS movement notes the recent statement by the United Kingdom, France, and Canada threatening to impose “targeted sanctions” on Israel if it failed to “halt settlements” in the occupied Palestinian West Bank. Doubling down on their 19 months of enabling Israel’s genocide, the three deeply complicit governments state they only “strongly oppose the expansion of Israel’s military operations in Gaza.” [Emphasis added]
Earlier today, the UK, which after the US and Germany is the most actively involved State in enabling Israel’s genocide with intelligence gathering and other military means, announced the suspension of its Free Trade Agreement negotiations with Israel and imposed “sanctions” against a grand total of “3 individuals, 2 illegal settler outposts and 2 organisations supporting violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.”
No sanctions related to Israel’s livestreamed genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in the illegally occupied Gaza Strip have been mentioned.
While these statements may reflect a symbolic political shift, they are far too late and fall dangerously short of meeting these States’ legal obligations under international law, including the Genocide Convention and the Apartheid Convention.
These statements are, however, yet another clear sign that our collective popular BDS pressure is working. The taboo is broken - sanctions are the way forward to end Israel’s atrocious crimes.
We will continue to organize and build people power to transform tokenism and empty threats into tangible and effective accountability measures, starting with a two-way military embargo and full scale trade and diplomatic sanctions.
For 19 months, these very states have actively enabled Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people. Following the lead of the United States, Israel’s main partner in genocide, these states have supplied military equipment, provided diplomatic cover, and opposed meaningful accountability at international fora. Their leaders have justified the genocide and frequently repeated Israel’s dehumanizing, anti-Palestinian propaganda. They have failed to hold Israel accountable while thousands of Palestinian families, as well as entire refugee camps and cities were systematically erased.
Their sudden expressions of concern ring hollow against their shameful record of complicity. Palestinians will never forgive all those who have been complicit in Israel’s genocide, from state officials to corporate executives to the heads of media outlets, universities, cultural institutions, among others. They should all be held accountable for their respective complicity in genocide, just as those who enabled Germany’s Nazi genocide and other crimes against humanity have been held accountable.
Under the Genocide Convention and customary international law, states are legally obliged not only to refrain from committing genocide but also to prevent and punish it. This duty is immediate and binding.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has already found it plausible that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and has issued multiple legally binding provisional measures to prevent further violations. These include a clear obligation on all states to ensure that their actions do not contribute to the commission of genocide.
Any continued provision of arms, fuel, dual-use items, military-intelligence support, or political protection to Israel directly violates these obligations.
If the UK, France, Canada, or any other state now seeks to uphold international law, according to prominent UN human rights experts, it must at the very least “Cancel or suspend economic relationships, trade agreements and academic relations with Israel that may contribute to its unlawful presence and apartheid regime in the occupied Palestinian territory,” and “Impose a full arms embargo on Israel.”
Anything less is posturing.