Germany plans talks with representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Damascus on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said, joining the United States and Britain in establishing contact with the group after it led the overthrow of Syria‘s Bashar al-Assad.
Archiv: David Lammy
Lammy: UK had ‚diplomatic contact‘ with HTS
„Using all the channels that we have available, and those are diplomatic and, of course, intelligence-led channels, we seek to deal with HTS where we have to.“
On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has had direct contact with HTS.
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese calls David Lammy a ‚genocide denier‘
)November 14, 2024)
The United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories has accused British Foreign Secretary David Lammy of being a „genocide denier“ and said the UK has done „nothing“ to prevent atrocities in Gaza.
In an interview with Middle East Eye in London on Wednesday, Francesca Albanese took aim at Lammy in response to comments he made in late October denying that Israel is committing genocide.
„I hadn‘t realised that Mr Lammy was a lawyer,“ she said, referring to Lammy‘s legal background.
„As a politician, you might say that for political convenience,“ she suggested, adding that would still make someone „a genocide denier“.
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide
(Adopted by Resolution 260 (III) A of the United Nations General Assembly on 9 December 1948.)
Article I
The Contracting Parties confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish.
Article II
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Article III
The following acts shall be punishable:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide.
Article IV
Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals.
(…)
Article IX
Disputes between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation, application or fulfilment of the present Convention, including those relating to the responsibility of a State for genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III, shall be submitted to the International Court of Justice at the request of any of the parties to the dispute.
‘Unacceptable’ – British PM, Foreign Secretary Claim Israel Not Committing Genocide
Lammy recently alleged that the term genocide referred to “when millions of people lost their lives in crises like Rwanda, the Second World War in the Holocaust” and that using it to describe Gaza “now undermines (its) seriousness”.
(…)
“Will the Prime Minister share (Lammy’s) definition of genocide with this House?” the lawmaker asked Starmer.
The prime minister answered by saying that “it would be wise to start a question like that by reference to what happened in October of last year”.
“I’m well aware of the definition of genocide, and that is why I’ve never described this as and referred to it as genocide,” he added.
Secretary Antony J. Blinken And United Kingdom Foreign Secretary David Lammy Joint Press Availability
QUESTION: Thank you, Mr. Secretary, Mr. Foreign Secretary. Secretary Blinken, could I ask you about a couple of aspects on the Middle East? The Israel Defense Forces just a moment ago released an investigation, or released a preliminary – some preliminary findings to the death of an American citizen, Ms. Aysenur Eygi. Could you say – they said that she was killed most likely by Israeli fire, but unintentionally. Are you confident of that assessment? Does the United States want to see anything further? Are you confident with the assessment that this was unintentional, and what more do you want Israel to do? Could there be repercussions?
For both of you, could I ask you about the International Criminal Court? The – it seems that in the coming days there could be a formal decision on whether to seek an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu, among others. Mr. Foreign Secretary, the Labor government, of course, has taken a slightly different stance from your predecessors, from the Conservatives, on this. Could you say what your position is, whether you support going ahead? And is there unity between the two allies on this? Thank you.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Shaun, thank you very much. With regard to the tragic killing of Aysenur, I think what we saw of this investigation is it seems to show what eyewitnesses have said and made clear: that her killing was both unprovoked and unjustified. No one – no one – should be shot and killed for attending a protest. No one should have to put their life at risk just for freely expressing their views.
In our judgment, Israeli security forces need to make some fundamental changes in the way that they operate in the West Bank, including changes to their rules of engagement. We’ve long seen reports of the security forces looking the other way when extremist settlers use violence against Palestinians. We’ve seen reports of excessive force by Israeli security forces against Palestinians. And now we have the second American citizen killed at the hands of Israeli security forces. It’s not acceptable. It has to change. And we’ll be making that clear to the senior-most members of the Israeli Government.
Now, we’re looking carefully at the results of this investigation, but even on an initial read and even accepting it at face value, it’s clear that there are serious issues that need to be dealt with. And we will insist that they be dealt with.
FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: I think the important thing to stress in great democracies such as ours is our belief in the separation of powers. There is an important forum for lawyers and the judiciary and our courts, and then there is also an important forum for politicians and those who represent the people.
We’ve always been clear in the UK in our belief in the international rule of law, the rules-based order, and in IHL issues which are fundamentally important. And we took a decision last week in relation to arms exports that were quasi-legal on the basis of our law as they stand. We believe in international law, we believe in the Statute of Rome, but these must be decisions for the international courts to determine. I don’t want to comment on the assessment that they will reach. I’m qualified as a lawyer in part because of the great Harvard Law School. But I’m going to leave it to the lawyers to determine these very complex matters.
SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you.
FOREIGN SECRETARY LAMMY: Thanks a lot.
Netanyahu says ‘shameful’ suspension of UK arms licenses will embolden Hamas
Announcing the move on Monday, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the decision to suspend 30 of 350 licenses did not amount to a blanket ban or an arms embargo, but only involved items with concerns over their use during the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
UK suspends 30 arms exports to Israel over Gaza war crimes concerns
The suspension, announced by Foreign Secretary David Lammy in parliament on Monday, is understood to cover components for military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones.
“Facing a conflict such as this, it is this government’s legal duty to review export licences,“ Lammy told MPs.
Mr Lammy really went off piste today, didn‘t he
(14.4.2019)
The madness of David Lammy: The Labour MP’s hatred for Brexit is not normal on any level.
Not only did he double down on his foul Holocaust relativism by continuing to compare the present political situation with the most criminal political regime in human history – he pushed it even further by saying his comparison of the ERG to the Nazis was ‘not strong enough’.
Not strong enough. Think about what is being said here.