Published 21/05/2025 14:33 | Edited 21/05/2025 15:22
The suspension of negotiations for a new free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and Israel marks an inflection in diplomatic relations between the two countries. The announcement was made on Tuesday (21) by British chancellor David Lammy in a session in the Common Chamber.
The decision occurs amid the intensification of the Israeli military offensive in Gaza, where at least 85 Palestinians were killed in 24 hours, and after statements by Netanyahu government ministers in defense of forced removal from the Palestinian population.
Lammy stated that the Gaza’s civilian transfer plan to third countries is “disgusting and monstrous”, and classified as “incompatible with the values of the British people” the blockade imposed by Israel to the entrance of humanitarian aid.
“We are facing a climb that breaks all the milestones of acceptable conduct between states,” he said. The Israeli Ambassador in the United Kingdom was formally summoned to provide clarification.
British Parliament hardens discourse and exposes contradictions in relations with Israel
During a session in the Common Chamber, Chancellor David Lammy announced the suspension of negotiations by a new free trade agreement between the United Kingdom and Israel. The measure was accompanied by a hard pronouncement against statements by Netanyahu government ministers on the removal of the Palestinian population from Gaza.
“We need to call this for what it is. It’s extremism. It’s dangerous. It’s disgusting. It’s monstrous,” said Lammy, commenting on Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s lines, who defended “Destroy Rafah” and “relocate” Palestinian civilians to other countries.
The session, however, was not limited to moral condemnation. Parliamentarians pressured the government to explain the maintenance of military exports to Israel even after the imposition of a partial ban in September 2024.
Deputy Zarah Sultana of the Independent Labor Group confronted the chancellor with official data revealing the £ 127.6 million permission in military exports to Israel only in the fourth quarter of 2024 – an amount higher than the total sum approved between 2020 and 2023, according to the Campaign Against the Arms Trade.
Lammy replied that he “did not recognize this number” and accused the parliamentarian of “sensationalism,” but did not dispute the published data.
According to the same organization, the government also approved more than £ 61 million in individual licenses for final military equipment in Israel, including targeting systems, ammunition and parts for military aircraft – items that may be being used directly on the Gaza offensive.
The complaints led the Chairman of the Commerce Committee of the Common House, Liam Byrne, to convene three ministers – of trade, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – to provide clarification on possible gaps in compliance with the partial ban.
Byrne also requested the disclosure of the number of licenses that were changed to exclude Israel as a country of final destination.
Parliamentarians of different countertops, including conservatives, defended the recognition of the state of Palestine, the total boycott of commerce with Israel and the immediate blockade of weaponry exports.
For Lammy, Netanyahu’s rhetoric and help blockade put Israel on an isolation route. “They are undermining their own interests and driving the country away from their historical partners,” he says.
New phase of the military offensive in Gaza aggravates humanitarian crisis
Tuesday’s bombings are part of Operation Gideon Carriage, conducted by Israel since last Sunday (18). According to the Ministry of Health of Gaza, 85 people were killed in air attacks in various regions of the track, including 22 civilians in a school used as shelter in the north of the territory.
The number of deaths since the beginning of the offensive, and October 2023, exceeds 53,000, of which more than 28,000 are women and children, according to UN Women.
The city of Khan Youis received on Monday (19) a new order of evacuation by the Israeli army, forcing another displacement amid hunger, the absence of shelter and uninterrupted bombings. No area of Gaza has been spared the attacks.
Humanitarian aid continues blocked despite Israeli promise
Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the end of the siege of Gaza, the UN said on Tuesday that the entry of humanitarian aid remains restricted and without permission for distribution.
Only five supply trucks were able to cross the border until the beginning of Wednesday, according to the United Nations Office Office (OCHA), and none was released for delivery until the statement.
The agency’s spokesman Jens Laerke stated that the measures adopted by Israel are insufficient in the face of the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe and that the released volume represents only one fifth of what Gaza received daily before the war. The UN reports that more than 9,000 supplies trucks are ready to enter the territory, awaiting Israeli authorization.
Sanctions reach extremist settlers and illegal settlements
The United Kingdom has also announced sanctions against three extremist settlers and four illegal settlements in the West Bank, responsible for human rights violations and attacks on Palestinian civilians. Among the targets are:
Daniella Weiss, the leader to Movimento, has nodded;
Zohar Sabah, already sanctioned by the United States;
Coco’s Farm Outpost and Neria’s Farm illegal farms, associated with armed settlers groups.
Sanctions include freezing goods, travel restrictions and legal impediments to cooperation with these entities.
Internal criticism of Netanyahu and repression to Israeli activists
In the internal level, the crisis deepens. Deputy Yair Golan, a reserve general and leader of the Democratic Party, said Israel is becoming a rainfall comparable to the South African apartheid regime. “A country is not killing babies by hobby. It does not establish the expulsion of a population as a goal,” Radio Bet told Radio Bet.
Netanyahu responded with accusations of “anti -Semitic slander,” but Golan reaffirmed his criticism of what he called “corrupt war” and lamented the silence of the Israeli left.
Meanwhile, war activists were arrested for displaying photos of killed Palestinian children during a protest on the Gaza border. One of the detainees, Alon-Lee Green, is a codire of the Standing Together binational movement, which denounced the double standard of the Israeli state: “peaceful protesters are taken to courts, while armed settlers act with impunity.”
Source: vermelho.org.br
