Colum Eastwood MP says he has contacted the British Foreign Secretary David Lammy this morning to remind him of his obligations under international law to protect the vessel ‘The Madleen’ and its crew who have been intercepted by Israeli military forces while trying to deliver symbolic humanitarian aid to the civilian population in Gaza.
Mr Eastwood has warned that unless governments use this as a moment to fundamentally change their approach to the genocide unfolding in Gaza that we now risk watching an entire people being extinguished. He added that it would leave ‘an indelible stain on the soul of western nations’.
Said the Foyle MP: “The crew of The Madleen represent the best of us. Regardless of who they are or their international profile, these are people who have risked their lives to breach Israel’s unlawful blockade on humanitarian aid reaching Gaza.
“They set sail knowing that the Netanyahu regime has demonstrated to the world that they are prepared to use overwhelming force against civilians and that they would be detained.
“I have contacted the British Foreign Secretary this morning to remind him of his obligations under international law to protect the Madleen and its crew.
“The conflicting details about the vessel’s whereabouts and the detention of the crew are concerning.
“But there is obviously a far bigger issue here – the genocide that Israel continues to inflict on the civilian population in Gaza, the use of starvation as a weapon of war and the clear war crimes that Palestinians are being subjected to every day.
“This must be a moment when governments wake up, intervene and put an end to what is quickly become the extinction of a people before our eyes.
“I have renewed my call on the British Government to directly sanction senior officials in the Netanyahu regime, to stop the sale and transfer of arms to Israel and to use this as the moment to change their approach to the genocide.
“The response to date has failed to match the scale of the horror that human beings are enduring every day in Gaza.
“The inaction on the part of governments here is a sin that will leave an indelible stain on the soul of western nations.”
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