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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

No one is above the law

Ten British nationals have been accused of committing war crimes while serving in the Israeli army in Gaza. They are accused of crimes including murder, extermination, attacking civilians, and the deportation or forcible transfer of a population. A team of legal experts, including prominent human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield, have submitted a dossier to the Metropolitan Police war-crimes team on behalf of the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), which is based in Britain.

The Foreign Office recognises the right of British dual na tionals to serve in the legitimately recognised armed forces of the country of their other nationality. But they add “those fight ing for Israel must operate within the bounds of International Humanitarian Law”.

Mansfield says: “If one of our nationals is committing an offence, we ought to be doing something about it. Even if we can’t stop the government of foreign countries behaving badly, we can at least stop our nationals from behaving badly. British nationals are under a legal obligation not to collude with crimes committed in Palestine. No one is above the law.”

Let’s hope the Met think the same.

Unacceptable action

Two Labour MPs were detained, questioned and barred from entering Israel last week. They were part of a delegation to Israel and the West Bank visiting human rights groups organised by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and the worthy Council for Arab-British Understanding and Medical Aid for Palestinians.

The Israeli government said that the MPs, who had “accused Israel of false claims”, were planning to “document the activities of security forces and spread anti-Israel hatred” and were “actively involved in promoting sanctions against Israeli ministers” – a reference to a cross-party letter calling for a ban on Israeli settlement goods in line with international law.

Caabu and MAP have run parliamentary delegations to the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, for over a de cade, enabling British parliamentarians from all parties to learn about the humanitarian and health situation there, and meet Pal estinian communities. This visit was part of that long-standing programme.

The Foreign Minister, David Lammy, said Israel’s actions were “counter-productive, and deeply concerning. I have made clear to my counterparts in the Israeli government that this is no way to treat British parliamentarians, and we have been in contact with both MPs tonight to offer our support.” Whether the Israelis will take any notice is another matter…