Britain has not concluded that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza despite appalling civilian suffering, according to a government letter.
Israel has been widely accused of the crime, including by the world’s biggest group of genocide scholars, over its nearly two-year genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave that has killed more than 64,000 people according to local authorities.
David Lammy, Britain’s foreign minister until Friday, wrote in a 1 September letter to a parliamentary committee that the government had carefully considered the risk of genocide.
“As per the Genocide Convention, the crime of genocide occurs only where there is specific ‘intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group’,” he said in the letter seen by Reuters.
“The government has not concluded that Israel is acting with that intent.”
The Israeli government is enraged by Britain’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state and block Israeli officials from attending its biggest defence trade show this week.
