A British diplomat has resigned over the U.Ok.’s “complicity in war crimes” in Gaza, stating there may be “no justification” for the nation’s continued arms gross sales to Israel.
Mark Smith, a diplomat working on the Foreign Office, reportedly submitted a resignation letter criticizing the federal government’s ongoing arms gross sales to Israel, media reported Friday.
On Sunday, the BBC confirmed that Smith, who labored on counterterrorism, resigned in protest of the arms gross sales.
“It is with sadness that I resign after a long career in the diplomatic service. I can no longer carry out my duties knowing that this Department may be complicit in war crimes,” the letter learn.
The Foreign Office declined to touch upon the case, stating the federal government is “committed to upholding international law.”
Smith, who beforehand assessed arms export licensing to the Middle East, said that “ministers claim the U.K. has one of the most ‘robust and transparent’ arms export licensing regimes in the world, but this is the opposite of the truth.”
He cited “clear and unquestionable examples of war crimes and breaches of International Humanitarian Law” in Gaza by Israel.
The letter added that “over half of Gaza’s homes and over 80% of commercial properties have been damaged or destroyed. Humanitarian aid is being blocked, and civilians are regularly left with no safe quarter. Red Crescent ambulances have been attacked, and schools and hospitals are regularly targeted. These are war crimes.”
“There is no justification” for the U.Ok.’s continued arms gross sales to Israel, “yet somehow it continues,” he stated.
Smith stated he raised the difficulty at each degree of the group, together with by means of an official whistleblowing investigation, however acquired “nothing more than ‘thank you, we have noted your concern.'”
The resignation e-mail was despatched to a large distribution checklist, together with tons of of presidency officers, embassy employees, and particular advisers to Foreign Office ministers, in line with the BBC.
The transfer was praised by many on social media, together with Francesca Albanese, the U.N. particular rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.
“I hope more diplomats will follow the brave lead of Mark Smith and speak up against the enablers of Israel’s atrocities,” she wrote on X.
In June, the Department for Business and Trade stated the U.Ok. had issued 108 arms export licenses to Israel since Oct. 7, when the Gaza battle started, with over 300 licenses nonetheless energetic as of May.
Source: www.dailysabah.com