The Home Secretary
Yvette Cooper

Dear Home Secretary

In view of the unconscionable genocide in Gaza and the extension of indiscriminate mass slaughter into Lebanon, we are calling on you to deproscribe resistance groups and impose sanctions on the state of Israel.

It is indisputable that we are witnessing the biggest genocide of our lifetime unfolding before our eyes. As the casualty toll mounts Britain and the international community are not only failing in their duty to try and halt it but are politically, financially and militarily enabling the slaughter under the pretext of upholding Israel’s right to self-defence.

The industrial scale slaughter of Palestinians with impunity – to date at least 40,000 have been killed to date with 70% of them being women and children – highlights all we need to know about who is the aggressor and who are the victims.

It is a shocking indictment of a western hegemonic world order that views the lives of Muslims and non-whites as less valuable.

At the same time as allowing Israel to wage its genocide, western governments are conspiring to deny the victims the right to defend themselves by proscribing the internationally recognised right of resistance. We can only interpret this as a policy to facilitate genocide.

The proscriptions of Hamas and Hizbullah, among others, are a key component of policies that weaponise anti-terrorism legislation to allow governments to wage illegal and unpopular wars, mainly against Muslims.

This has only been made possible by the manufacturing of dehumanising narratives against the likes of Hamas and Hizbullah to garner public support for what are essentially war crimes, allowing governments to carry out atrocities under the pretext of fighting terrorism.

Put simply, proscriptions work to demonise popular resistance groups and the people they represent, and in so doing legitimise white supremacist violence against Muslims.

The fact that so many groups committed to the liberation of Palestine from colonial oppression are targeted through proscription laws simply underscores the UK’s and EU’s complicity in the supremacist violence and genocide.

Based on strategy and conduct, it is clear which parties in this conflict are guilty of terrorism and which have proceeded against military targets and avoid harm to civilians and civilian infrastructure. No amount of political spin by your government or that of the US and other Israeli allies that can hide this plain fact from the world.

You have the ability to change course for the British government and join the movement for a free and fair world. Sanctions on the Israeli regime and deproscription of pro-Palestinian liberation movements including and especially Hamas and Hizbullah is the most basic and necessary of starts.

We are therefore calling on you to take immediate steps to deproscribe all pro-Palestinian resistance groups and at the same time to impose sanctions on the genocidal Israeli regime. Those facing genocide should be able to fight back against their oppressors and count on the moral and material support of people worldwide in their struggle.

Failure to undertake these most basic actions will simply reinforce your government’s reputation as apologists for the genocide being waged on Palestine and Lebanon.

Yours faithfully
Massoud Shadjareh
Chair
Islamic Human Rights Commission