Just as the British Foreign Secretary arrived in Jerusalem last week to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, he was met with the sight of war resistance activists chaining themselves to the gate of the British Consulate. Amid a choir of Western diplomats whimsically calling for an end to the war with little to show for their efforts, activists backed by the Refuser Solidarity Network reminded the UK that it’s their weapons being fired in Gaza. Israel's chief international backers – and weapons supplier – cannot charade between sensible calls for “peace” and continuous weapons shipments streaming into Israel’s ports. Activists’ message was simple: you can either stop the war or continue to profit from it. Join us in calling on the UK and the world to immediately cease weapons sales to the Israeli military by sharing activists’ powerful words on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
"We’re here today to demand that the British government pressure the Israeli government to cease its relentless bombings and the killing of civilians that are cynically called collateral damage,” war resisters declared outside the British consulate. “We call on the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy to do the job that he has come here for today. To reach a ceasefire in Gaza, to release the hostages, and to stop a regional war. This cannot happen whilst war profiteering continues.”
The UK has already begun to pivot on its support for the war on Gaza, vowing to restore funding to UNRWA and backing down on challenging the International Criminal Court’s right to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. The British government’s recent moves are welcome, yet it remains among several nations publicly calling for a ceasefire while providing Israel with a steady flow of weapons deals. Cutting off the West’s unchecked stream of arms, which travel from Israel’s ports to the mass graves of Gaza, is the most important tool that the UK, Germany and U.S.’s immediate disposal to put a direct halt to these crimes. Our lives, Palestinians and Israelis, depend on it.
"Look at these women, men, children and elderly people in the eye, and stop being accomplices to the Israeli military machine. We demand that the British government stop arming Israel, put pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire deal, allow Gaza to recover, bring back the hostages and start the process that will bring us all security, peace and justice from the river to the sea."
Activists’ target was not just the British government per se, but the very sloganism emanating from world leaders which is costing us our lives; in Gaza, on the Lebanon border and in the Golan Heights. Refuser Solidarity Network will continue to back those on the front lines of our struggle against genocide and unfettered war profiteering built on Palestinian death, and we will continue to hold the powerful to account, both on the ground in Jerusalem and across the world with your help. We support activists logistically and financially, providing them the infrastructure to confront the Israeli war machine from within.
By sharing their call to your networks, you can amplify their collective rejoinder that the war in Gaza is in fact not very far from any of us. Whether in New York, Berlin, London or Tel Aviv, we are all part of the economic flows funding this genocide. The flip side of this ominous fact is our collective ability to stop this genocide and so much more, with complicity comes the reverse ability to withhold and to actively refuse. Wherever you might be, you can join Israeli activists' calls for a total arms embargo. We are counting on you to spread their call abroad through your networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Our lives depend on it.