An open letter has just dropped into the Government’s inbox. Its demands are reasonable, can be easily met, and would help the UK meet its legal obligations in relation to Israel’s assault on Gaza; I therefore have every confidence it will find its way to the bottom of an in-tray marked: “Too controversial: bury it.”
The letter, signed by 60 politicians, human rights lawyers and journalists asks the Home and Foreign Secretaries to ensure that dual British-Israeli nationals returning from Israel to the UK, are required to disclose whether they have served with the Israel Defence Forces over the last two and a half years. In such cases, it asks Shabana Mahmood and Yvette Cooper to ensure that those soldiers are recorded and subject to ‘secondary screening’, in other words, asked by immigration officials which IDF units they joined, whether they fought in the Gaza Strip and what they did there. None of this is currently happening.
Organised by Declassifed UK and the ICJP, the letter asks the UK Government to uphold its obligations under the Geneva Convention to investigate any “potential links to war crimes, in cases where they [the dual nationals] have served in the IDF”. If there is sufficient evidence, the signatories argue there is a clear “public interest” argument for pursuing prosecutions under domestic and international law. I agree with them.
Our Government will undoubtedly bristle at the idea of upsetting a key ally, Israel, for whom it has just granted two new licences for military exports worth 20 million pounds; and re-open furious public debate about the UK’s complicity in genocide and war crimes.
However, given the number of people involved, addressing the issue of dual citizens - or any Briton - fighting with the IDF in Gaza is a pressing one. According to a freedom of information request carried out by a lawyer in Israel at least 1,686 British-Israelis and a further 383 people with British, Israeli and another nationality served in the Israeli Armed forces over the last two and half years. Another 54 Britons served in the IDF as so-called “lone soldiers”, according to an Israeli parliamentary report.
An Israeli peace activists holds a placard calling on people to refuse to serve in the Israeli military during an anti war demonstration near Sderot, Israel, May 2025. Photo: Eyal Warshavsky / Getty
Moreover, there is the question of consistency. British nationals who go to fight in Ukraine are given a stark warning on the Foreign Office website “If you travel to Ukraine to fight, or to assist others engaged in the war, your activities may amount to offences under UK legislation. You could be prosecuted on your return to the UK.”
No such warning exists on the Foreign Office page for Israel.
The context, should you need a grim reminder, is the slaughter of a minimum of 75,000 Palestinians, including more than 20,000 children, in Gaza by the IDF, along with the destruction of the territory’s infrastructure including hospitals, housing, universities and agriculture. Israel facilitated the mass displacement of up to 1.9 million people, famine and the rapid spread of preventable diseases. More journalists have been killed covering this horror than in any other recorded conflict.
Israel’s military operation was triggered by the appalling massacre carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023 which saw 1,200 people killed and 250 others – including children – kidnapped and held in tunnels.
The sheer scale and ferocity of the IDF’s response, authorised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have had grave legal ramifications. To remind you: first, Israel was hauled in front of the International Court of Justice to face a charge of genocide – which it denies. Then, in an attempt to prevent more civilian deaths and the collective punishment of an entire population, the ICJ issued issued an interim statement: it found that Palestinians had “plausible rights to protection from genocide” and ordered Israel to rein-in its operation. It later remind all countries of their long standing duty to do everything in their power to stop an actual genocide occurring.
Needless to say, Israel ignored the ICJ’s first utterance; and most of the Western world – including the UK – ignored the other.
It is to our country’s undying shame that as the bodies of women and children piled-up in Gaza, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his successor Keir Starmer - once the director of public prosecutions - chose to disregard the world’s top court.
Yet, it is not too late for the UK to fulfil at least some of its legal obligations. The open letter - signed by (amongst others) former British Army General Charlie Herbert and leading Human Rights Lawyer Michael Mansfield – asks Mahmood and Cooper to investigate any “potential links to war crimes” in relation to returning dual nationals and Britons. This is a reasonable request given Israel is on trial at the ICJ, and its Prime Minister and former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, are subject to arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court accusing them of using starvation as a weapon of war and crimes against humanity. (The ICC had also issued a warrant for Hamas Commander, Mohammed Deif for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Deif was however assassinated in a targeted airstrike by the IDF in July 2024.)
Surely, as the open letter implies, interviews with returning soldiers would assist police investigations, help gather credible evidence and uphold the rule of law?
The idea that individuals living here could or should be prosecuted for war crimes by UK authorities is not an abstract one. In the first prosecution of its kind, a Syrian national, who lives in the UK has been charged with a crime against humanity relating to his time working in the Syrian Air Force Intelligence in Damascus.
In sharp contrast, when a 240 page dossier containing the names of 10 British nationals suspected of war crimes in Gaza was compiled by two human rights charities, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Policing War Crimes Team said it would not investigate - implying there was insufficient evidence. Surely, as the open letter implies, interviews with returning soldiers would assist police investigations, help gather credible evidence and uphold the rule of law?
There’s no doubt that, when the UK Government chooses to act in accordance with international and domestic law, it can and it will. Just look at Keir Starmer’s decision not to assist in the United States’ unlawful military action against Iran or Boris Johnson’s decision to boost accountability for war crimes in the context of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The fact is, if we still want to live in a world with a rules-based order the UK must hold all foreign powers and individuals to account. Exceptions can’t be made with regard to the state of Israel or individuals who have fought in Gaza on its behalf. To do anything less is against the public interest. It will cut us legally adrift and morally unmoored - and that’s well before we even get to the issue of potential criminals slipping back into British public life unnoticed. It’s crucial this open letter is placed at the top of the Government in-tray marked “Showing some backbone: Urgent”.