Keir Starmer and other UK Government ministers deny that Israel’s mass killing in Gaza meets the legal threshold for genocide - or even that there is a serious risk of genocide. This denial enables the UK to continue selling weapons to Israel and allows the RAF to carry out over 500 surveillance flights over Gaza during the genocide peak, directly assisting the killing below.

The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) disagrees with Starmer and Lammy. In December 2023, the IAGS issued a statement declaring that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute the crime of genocide.

AGS represents the world’s leading academic experts on genocide and mass atrocity crimes. It based its conclusion on intent, scale of killing, destruction of civilian life, and statements by Israeli officials. This is the clearest and most authoritative use of the term “genocide” by an international scholarly body.

The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign has been campaigning against Israeli genocide long before October 2023. The Scottish Government recently acknowledged the Israeli genocide, following the findings of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry. As part of that campaigning work, you are invited to a full-day public event on Saturday, 31 January, featuring outstanding speakers.

Contact the host of Settler colonialism and genocide: Palestine in context