Lawmakers urge UK government to sanction Netanyahu over Israeli torture of Palestinians

Dozens of British lawmakers have called on the UK government to impose sanctions on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ministers over Israel’s torture of Palestinian civilians.

In a letter addressed to UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, at least 71 MPs and peers from different parties said the “systematic and well-documented torture of Palestinian civilians lies with the government of Israel, including prime minister Netanyahu."

The letter, signed last week, called on Cooper to “help end the impunity” by sanctioning Netanyahu and Yariv Levin, who serves as deputy prime minister, as well as “justice” minister and interior minister. 

It was led by Labor MP Neil Duncan-Jordan, and includes 30 MPs and seven peers from the ruling Labor Party.

The lawmakers noted that sanctions imposed last year against Israel’s ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, which “remain welcome,” had done “little to change the government of Israel's approach to Palestinian detainees."

They emphasized that things had “escalated, with near total impunity” since then.

The letter cited a UN report from February which finds that "torture has become integral to the domination of and punishment inflicted on Palestinian men, women and children, both through custodial abuse and through a relentless campaign of forced displacement, mass killings, deprivation and the destruction of all means of life."

The letter referred to the fact that Netanyahu had praised the decision to drop charges a few months ago in a case of the rape of a Palestinian detainee by Israeli forces.

It also mentioned that two months ago, when the Global Sumud Flotilla headed for Gaza and was attacked by Israeli forces, British nationals were kidnapped in international waters.

Among the signatories of the letters are lawmakers from the Green Party, Plaid Cymru, Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party, as well as one Conservative MP.

A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office told Sky News, "The reports of mistreatment of detainees by Israeli forces are disgraceful and we have raised this issue with the Israeli government.”

"All detainees must be treated with dignity and in full accordance with international law, and any allegations of torture or mistreatment must be thoroughly investigated. The UK continues to call on the government of Israel to grant the International Committee of the Red Cross immediate and unrestricted access to all detention facilities.”

The spokesperson stressed that "It is completely unacceptable that hundreds of Palestinian children are reportedly held in Israeli detention without charge for months."

The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, said in her report to the UN Human Rights Council in March that "the Israeli prison system has degenerated into a laboratory of calculated cruelty" with acts that include rape of Palestinians with bottles, metal rods and knives.

Over 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, where they face medical neglect and conditions that have resulted in the deaths of several detainees, as reported by both Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups.

Since the beginning of Israel’s genocide in Gaza in October 2023, over 100 Palestinian prisoners have reportedly died in Israeli custody. It’s believed that the real figure is much higher.

In 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former minister of military affairs, Yoav Gallant, on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, including starvation as a method of warfare, committed in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

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