UK government putting arms company profits ahead of Palestinian lives
The Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, is putting arms company profits ahead of the rights and lives of people in Gaza, says the Scottish Greens external affairs spokesperson, Ross Greer MSP.
The comments follow media interviews in which Mr Cameron refused to end arms exports to Israel, despite the mounting death toll and evidence of war crimes.
UK arms export criteria says a weapon can not be sold if there is a "clear risk" that it "might" be used in a serious breach of International Humanitarian Law.
UK government statistics, compiled by Campaign Against Arms Trade, show that in the last 10 years, the UK has licensed at least £500 million worth of arms to Israel.
Mr Greer said: "David Cameron and the UK Government have played a truly shameful and complicit role in the destruction in Gaza. They have armed and supported the assault right from the start, and have put arms company profits ahead of the rights and lives of Palestinians.
"Israeli forces have committed atrocity after atrocity, including some of the most appalling war crimes of the 21st century. They are rightly being investigated for genocide by the International Criminal Court, but the Foreign Secretary has made excuses and allowed the arms sales to continue.
“There are 1.5 million people trapped in Rafah. They have nowhere to go and are being bombed by one of the world’s most powerful militaries, which is using some of the most deadly weapons ever produced.
"UK arms export law could not be clearer, but the UK Government simply doesn't care.
“The reality is that the UK should never have been arming Israel in the first place, not with its decades long record of brutal apartheid, state violence and war crimes against the people of Palestine.
“How many more children need to be killed before David Cameron and Rishi Sunak are finally forced to say that enough is enough?"