Baroness Warsi called out Tory complicity over Israeli war crimes today.

Today, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi told the govt that their inaction endorses Israel’s criminal actions and allows them to act with “total impunity”

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi resigned as a Tory MP in Aug 2014, during the 2014 Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Warsi said at the time that she could no longer support the Cameron Government’s policy on the escalation of violence during the Israel–Gaza conflict and added the UK Government’s “approach and language during the current crisis in Gaza is morally indefensible” and “not consistent with the rule of law and our long support for international justice”. She further added that she believed that “Our position not to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN in November 2012 placed us on the wrong side of history”.

Warsi subsequently called for an arms embargo against Israel… “It appals me that the British Government continues to allow the sale of weapons to a country, Israel, that has killed almost 2,000 people, including hundreds of kids, in the past four weeks alone. The arms exports to Israel must stop.”

Ed Miliband said, at the time “I think Baroness Warsi has acted with principle and integrity. People around Britain have been shocked by the suffering we have seen in Gaza.” Of course that then opened him up for attack from the pro-Israel lobby, despite the fact that he is himself Jewish.

It seems, 7yrs on, nothing much has changed except Baroness Warsi is now calling out the government’s complicity in Israeli war crimes from the back benches of the House of Lords. In her speech today, Baroness Warsi didn’t hold back and accused the government of ignoring its own policies of supporting human rights and the two state solution for Israel/Palestine. She goes on to explain how they’re also ignoring their own policy against illegal Israeli settlements as well as a number of other policies and in some cases they’ve even worked against their own policies – such as opposing the ICC’s investigation into Israeli war crimes. This, she explains, has given Israel the endorsement to act with “total impunity”.

Baroness Warsi wasn’t holding back today. She wanted to make it clear that the government would not be allowed to rely on the typical excuses they always role out to explain their inaction this time. She made it clear that excuses like “if only we knew then what we know now” simply won’t wash and then proceeded to reel off a list of shocking facts about the present Israeli bombardment of Gaza, the ill treatment of Palestinians in the West bank and the attacks on journalists and press buildings. Warsi was clearly determined that the govt would not be allowed to make the claim that they didn’t act because they didn’t know.

Clearly, morality is not exclusive to any political party and injustice is equally abhorrent to all – regardless of whether people vote Labour or Tory or for any other party. Perhaps the only exceptions to the rule might be certain government ministers, certain MPs (both on the left and the right) and perhaps the broader corporate media.