The Campus Soapbox
By Tim Holmes, Student Action for Palestine
It is a fairly basic moral principle that we are primarily responsible for actions we commit ourselves – or help others commit – and not for those committed by others. It follows that, as citizens in a democratic country, who exercise some degree of control over our government, we share some degree of moral responsibility for its actions. And the crimes Britain has assisted Israel in committing against the Palestinians are grave indeed.
Last September, The Guardian reported the testimony of “dozens of troops” from Israeli pressure group Breaking The Silence, who “acted on standing orders” to “open fire on people regardless of whether they were armed or not.” In one soldier’s words, there was “pressure to get kills”. According to another, “The commanders said kill as many as possible”. Gaza, he claimed, “was considered a playground for sharpshooters”.
This April The Guardian reported a “huge jump” in British arms sales to Israel. According to the Foreign Office, these sales are perfectly legal: “The bottom line” being “that no piece of kit is used for external aggression or internal repression”.
Shockingly, this comes a mere four years after Jack Straw publicly admitted Israel was breaching assurances that military equipment would not be used against civilians or in the occupied territories. Despite the government’s public posturing, Britain has since sold Israel leg-irons, electric shock belts, chemical and biological agents, categories covering mortars, rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons, military explosives, infrared and radar sensors.
A mere two months after Straw’s admission, in “a move which ministers said was dictated by the interests of British arms companies”, The Guardian reported, BAE Systems were still selling Israel “Head up Displays” for F16 aircraft – the same F16s that, according to Amnesty International, Israel “routinely used” to “bomb and shell Palestinian residential areas”.
As Straw explained, “Any interruption to the supply of these components would have serious implications for Britain’s defence relations with the United States.” Their supply continues to this day – providing some insight not only into the priorities of the British government, but also, dear reader, into where your tuition fees are going.
This is an ongoing crime which needs to be stopped, if we take our moral responsibilities seriously. We can certainly do a lot worse, it seems to me, than start by supporting the Ethical Investment campaign here at York.
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