Speaking to PoliticsJOE, Khan said that we should be “holding the Israeli government to account” over its actions in Gaza.
The Mayor of London has called for an immediate halt on British arms exports to Israel.
Sadiq Khan’s intervention comes after more than three former supreme court justices, including the court’s former president Lady Hale, were among more than 600 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges who warned that the UK government is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
The signatories have warned that the present situation in Gaza is “catastrophic” and that given the international court of justice (ICJ) finding that there is a plausible risk of genocide being committed, the UK is legally obliged to act to prevent it.
Speaking to PoliticsJOE, Khan said that we should be “holding the Israeli government to account” over its actions in Gaza.
His comments come after seven international aid workers, including three British citizens, were killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza on Monday. John Chapman, 57, James Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, were among the seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) workers killed in Monday’s strike.
Khan told PoliticsJOE: “What I’m quite clear about is what we’ve seen since October 7th and not just what happened in Israel on October 7th and by the way those hostages should be released, but the awfulness of what’s happening in Gaza.
“33,000 people have lost their lives, men, women and children. 13,000 children have lost their lives, and we saw in the last 48 hours seven aid workers, three British, being targeted. Not one car, not two cars, three cars, by the Israeli Defence Force.
“In my view, the fact that the government is not publishing the legal advice, one can only draw one conclusion. I think the government should be pausing all sales of weapons to Israel.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has come under growing pressure from Conservative Party peers and MPs who are also publicly calling for the UK to halt arms sales to Israel. The list includes Tory peer Sir Nicholas Soames, who has said that Britain should send a ‘message’ to Israel about the country’s action in Gaza.
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