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Greens call for scaling up actions against Israel, accusing UK government of complicity in killing

Text of a press release issued by the Green Party of England and Wales on 12th February 2024.

As Israel appears to be on the brink of an all out assault on Rafah, despite warnings against such action by the UN, Red Crescent and others, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer is demanding the UK scale up actions against the Israeli government until the killing stops. Greens are calling for an end to all arms sales to Israel, prosecutions of war criminals and targeted sanctions on Israel’s leaders. 

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: 

“It is clear that the Israeli government is refusing to heed warnings about the catastrophic implications of an all-out attack on Rafah. The UK government must now demand that Israel stop the killing, calling for an immediate ceasefire. Hamas must also agree to this ceasefire of course, and release all hostages.  

“Decisions made by the UK government - above all its failure, month after month, to call for an immediate ceasefire - have made them complicit in the killing of almost 28,000 people to date, 12,000 of whom are children [1]. 

“Israel relies on certain weapon parts manufactured in the UK, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter whose essential components are made here [2]. A Dutch court has today ordered the state to cease the export of F-35 spare parts to Israel. We call on the UK government to follow suit, and suspend all arms export licences to Israel until the killing stops. The UK must also cease all military collaboration with Israel, including allowing Israeli use of British bases and RAF intelligence flights over Gaza.

“Greens would also implement the requirements of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign across the UK economy. This would include excluding Israel from international sporting and music events; withdrawing all public money from funds with investments in Israel; and ending beneficial trade arrangements with Israel [3]. 

“It is clear that only outside pressure will make Israel stop its mass killing. We can increase the pressure on Israeli leaders by introducing targeted sanctions against key individuals. This would include travel bans and asset freezes on Israel's leadership and cabinet members, in particular those calling for new settlements in Gaza and the annexation of the West Bank. 

“Finally, we would encourage UK authorities including the Metropolitan Police and Director of Public Prosecutions to pursue perpetrators of war crimes committed where UK citizens are the victims or where UK citizens are potential perpetrators. 

“There are many steps the UK government could take to pressure Israel to stop the killing. Its refusal to do so means that they are implicitly condoning the appalling carnage in Gaza.” 

Notes

  1. Israel-Gaza war in maps and charts: Live tracker | Israel War on Gaza News | Al Jazeera 
  2. Who Arms Israel? (workersinpalestine.org)
  3. This is consistent with the Green Party’s non-violent approach to demonstrating its opposition to breaches of human rights and international law. It is parallel to calls we have made for boycotts of a number of different countries in the past including Russia, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar, China, and Qatar.

Enfield has a serious and growing housing crisis that the Labour administration is doing little to tackle.

  • The council is failing to meet its own planning policies - it is not delivering housing that local people can afford.
  • Enfield Green Party believes that the administration’s policy choices are currently tilted in favour of developers and property investors rather than local residents

Enfield has an above-average need for social rent homes, but a below-average rate of building them.

  • Despite having greater need for social housing than most other outer London boroughs - because of the level of poverty in Enfield - we have been one of the worst performers in building new social rent housing.

Enfield's shameful record on homelessness

We have one of the highest rates of homelessness in the country, and one of the highest usages of temporary accommodation. Around 5000 Enfield children are living in temporary accommodation - a shameful statistic.

  • The huge shortfall in affordable housing has resulted in around 3,500 households living in temporary accommodation in Enfield. In 2018/19 the council spent more than £66m on temporary accommodation.
  • Temporary accommodation is hugely expensive and represents a massive transfer of public funds to private landlords without providing families with the living conditions and stability they need
  • People who cannot afford adequate housing suffer from poor health and reduced life chances
  • Many of them face a stark choice: between moving away from Enfield – away from work, family, and community support networks - or living in unaffordable, unsuitable, unhealthy, or precarious housing conditions.

Enfield Green Party recognises that much of the blame for this situation lies with governments that have been in power since the 1980s, but there is still much that the council could do but isn't.

  • According to the council's own assessment, Enfield needs to build between 2,111 and 3,493 new affordable homes per year.
  • At least two-thirds of these affordable homes will need to be Social Rent/Affordable Rent.
  • Yet over the last ten years, and especially since 2018, the amount of social rent housing in the borough has actually fallen.

Enfield Green Party is calling on the government to provide additional funding to build the types of housing Enfield needs. And for Enfield Council to carry out its own policies on housing, rather than give in to pressure from developers.

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