Yoav Gallant, Israel’s Defence Minister ordered “a complete siege of the Gaza Strip,” on Monday in response to Hama’s assault of Israel. “There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed.”

“We are fighting human animals, and we act accordingly” he said using genocidal language as he dehumanised the 2.2 million Palestinians, nearly half of which are children who are sitting ducks in the occupied Gaza Strip. In an admission of intent to commit war crimes, Gallant stated that “Israel is moving to full offense, Gaza will never go back to what it once was,” according to the Times of Israel.

Essentially the stage has been set for a large-scale escalation of the violence that has already led to the killing of hundreds of innocent Israelis and Palestinians. UK MPs say they “support Israel’s right to defend itself” but cannot condemn the war crimes being committed against innocent civilians.

Human Animals

Gallant posted his intentions on the X platform where it received a restricted visibility for hateful conduct.

If the Israeli government treated the Palestinians like animals, they would provide them with electricity, food, water, and gas.

"We are setting up a complete siege of Gaza: No electricity, no food, no water, no gas. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals. And we… https://t.co/hQVs1Txa1r pic.twitter.com/dYUdt8PY5c

— Dr. Thomas Binder, MD (@Thomas_Binder) October 9, 2023

Does Starmer support Israel’s ‘right’ to cut Gaza’s water and power?

“Israel is in violation of the Geneva Convention and aspects of International Humanitarian Law. But, of course, the occupation in its entirety is illegal & in violation of swathes of international law & countless UN resolutions,” according to Andrew Feinstein from Double Down News.

“Human rights” lawyer and leader of the UK’s opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer. ignored that fact during an interview with LBC’s NickFerrari on Wednesday. Starmer was asked whether a siege was appropriate,” Cutting off power, cutting off water Sir Keir?

Starmer replied, “I think that Israel does have that right. It is an ongoing situation…” Starmer responds and then contradicts himself saying, “Everything should be done within International Law.”

The former human rights lawyer never elaborated on how collective punishment methods, such as the withdrawal of necessary food and water supplies to a large urban area, could be done within international law.

“I think that Israel does have that right.”

Sir Keir Starmer tells @NickFerrariLBC that it is acceptable for Israel to withhold power and water from citizens in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/S1L5nftyG5

— LBC (@LBC) October 11, 2023

Labour’s shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry stuck to the same script as Starmer. In an interview on Newsnight, when asked “Do you think cutting off food, water and electricity is within international law?” Thornberry could only reply “I think that Israel has an absolute right to defend itself against terrorists” source

Starmer and Thornberry show support of Israel but have a reluctance to speak of the war crimes and fail to condemn them. Starmer of all people should know that the Israeli military machine does not have a right to commit war crimes, or a right to ignore international law, or the right to undermine the human rights of the people of Gaza.

Neither do they have the right to entirely eliminate an entire population to control whether they live or die,  noted media critic Sana Saeed, referring to Gallant’s threat to starve 2 million trapped civilians.

It should be a red flag to the whole country that Starmer, as a potential candidate for the next Prime minister could be supportive of such an inhumane attack equating to the genocide of innocent people.

The Right Side of History, Again

Jeremy Corbyn who was kicked out of the Labour Party by Sir Keir, however, has rightly condemned both the Palestinian assault on southern Israel and the subsequent Israeli reaction.

“The horrific attacks on civilians in Israel were deplorable. This cannot justify the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians, who are paying the price for a crime they did not commit,” he posted on X on Tuesday. “Half of Gaza’s population are children. Trapped in an open-air prison without food, water, gas or electricity, they are watching their homes turn to rubble with nowhere to go.”

A fact that even the EU was not perturbed by it seems when they decided to cancel aid for Palestine despite their recent flagship project of 30 million euros to supply clean drinking water in Gaza.

Therefore, ignoring the important rules of war, and that the use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited under customary international law.

Rules of War

Thankfully the move was blocked by Ireland, Spain, and other member states. It is abhorrent that they considered it in the first place, ignoring International Law, which states that;

“All warring parties must take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects, such as homes, shops, schools, and medical facilities. Attacks that target civilians or fail to discriminate between combatants and civilians, or that would cause disproportionate harm to the civilian population compared to the anticipated military gain, are prohibited.” Human Rights Watch

To support Israel’s “right to defend itself” should never also condone inhumane war crimes or give a free reign to the deliberate targeting of civilians.

According to International Law “Indiscriminate attacks can never be justified by pointing to the injustice of the political situation or other political or moral arguments.” and “Parties to a combat must distinguish at all times between combatants and civilians, they can never be the target of attack.”

British Bombs and Bullets

Yet it seems that we can not object to these war crimes being able to continue without hearing accusations of results in accusations of “taking sides.” Former adviser to Jeremy Corbyn, James Schneider was interviewed on GBNews he found “When you oppose Israeli war crimes and Britain’s complicity in them, the British media accuses you of apologising, or an apologist for Hamas.”

Is this just another way of silencing the opposing voices to an agenda?

Schneider explained to the GBNews panel that the reason why we have international law and the reason we have established what war crimes are and what is collective punishment, “is not so that these things can be wiped away and forgotten about when there is another atrocity to respond to.” Sadly the presenters looked irritated even when Schneider pointed out;

“These are war crimes that are being committed, with British Bombs, British bullets and being supported by our government also the governments of the EU and the U.S.“

When you oppose Israeli war crimes and Britain's complicity in them, the British media accuses you of apologising for Hamas. pic.twitter.com/VvSmK1z334

— James Schneider (@schneiderhome) October 10, 2023

We Cannot Condone Targeting of Civilians

In an interview on BBC Newsnight, Kirsty Wark was interviewing Husam Zomlot, Head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, who spoke of the 6 family members, who were among 800 who were killed in Israeli strikes into Gaza.

Husam lost a cousin, her husband, children, and mother-in-law among other family members who died instantly when they were bombarded and their entire buiding was brought down, another two infants from the family are in intensive care.

Although Wark said she was sorry for Husam;s personal loss, it was said without a shred of empathy, and she quickly asked “You cannot condone the killing of civilians in Israel? ” Husam answered; No..

“We cannot condone the targeting of civilians from any side”

"My cousin is not Hamas. These kids are not Hamas."

Husam Zomlot, Head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, lost 6 family members amongst the almost 700 killed in Israeli strikes into Gaza.#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/Oih0hpWhxt

— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) October 9, 2023

These People are Not Hamas.”

The Palestinians have been dehumanised which is a precondition to enable the Israeli military machine to commit war crimes. The innocent civilians were not guilty on the barbaric attack of the Israeli people on Saturday the 7th of September, they are not Hamas.

“We support Israels right to defend itself” seems to be the controlled script that we are now seeing worldwid. However, our Leaders and MPs should not be supporting the mass genocide of innocent people which amounts to heinous war crimes.

We cannot tolerate violations of International Law, experts have long warned, that impunity for war crimes only leads to more and “so long as there is impunity for serious abuses, we will continue to see more repression and shedding of civilian blood.” Where does it end?

As James Sneider has said “We should not put forward our diplomatic support, and we should not offer our bombs and bullets to kill people! We must not condone these war crimes.