Maira Mirza
The British government remains persistent in concealing the number of British nationals and dual Israeli nationals who have enlisted in the Israeli military. After a series of back and forth with the Foreign Office, Declassified UK was informed that in September 2023, 80 British nationals were serving as “lone soldiers” in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), but the number was likely much higher due to dual nationals serving in the occupation army. They added: “We have records of approximately 20-30 British Citizens residing in illegal settlements in the West Bank.”However, Sam Sank, an Israeli reservist from north London told the Times he believes there are hundreds if not thousands of Britons fighting for Israel.
Like Israel’s “lone soldier” scheme, Britain also authorises for their Mahal programme to run, which allows foreign nationals to serve in the Israeli army and receive permanent Israeli citizenship. Many of these individuals would have been among the 360,000 reservists that Israel called from around the world to support it.
Zionist ideology
Instead of cracking down on British citizens travelling to Israel and being radicalised by the violent Zionist ideology, the British government has systematically protected them from being prosecuted despite the Israeli regime being guilty of facilitating an apartheid system, ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, illegal settlements, arbitrary detentions, torture and more heinous crimes against humanity.
This same impunity and protection was not awarded to nationals who travelled to Ukraine or Syria. In fact, aid-workers who travelled to Syria to deliver emergency humanitarian aid following the civil war were stripped of their citizenship and denied re-entry into Britain. It is apparent that laws and legislation are compromised when it comes to Israel, and Tel Aviv remains the only place in the world exempt from the consequences of breaching international law.
Nonetheless, the UK has a legal and moral obligation to prosecute its nationals who travel abroad to participate in, support, or profit from such war crimes. As with other war crimes, the principle of universal jurisdiction allows states to prosecute individuals for heinous crimes committed beyond their borders. By failing to investigate and prosecute those involved, the UK becomes complicit in these violations.
Despite this, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) found that whilst the Metropolitan Police has actively investigated British citizens who travelled to fight in other armies abroad, they are not aware of any Britons who joined the occupation army being investigated.
In June 2022, the ICJP submitted a dossier to the Metropolitan Police’s ‘Counter Terrorism Command’ outlining details of war crimes, crimes against humanity, as well as breaches to the Fourth Geneva Convention allegedly committed at times when Britons were serving in the occupation army. Unsurprisingly, the authorities failed to investigate British citizens who returned from fighting in Israel.
Images and videos
Over the past few months we have seen images and videos of British soldiers serving in the Israeli occupation army parading around a desecrated Gaza, praising their work of ethnic cleansing and genocide. One of many disturbing cases is that of Levi Simon who was filmed rummaging through personal clothes of Palestinian women and waving an Israeli flag in a demolished Gazan school proclaiming: “We’re here, we’re here to stay, we’re not going to take your terror, and they’re going to start teaching Hebrew in this school soon.”
Aryeh King, the British citizen who serves as deputy mayor of Jerusalem, expressed delight at images of Palestinian men being humiliated and abused publicly. King wrote on X: “If it were up to me, I would have dispatched D-9 bulldozers and put them behind the mounds of dirt and would have given the order to cover all these hundreds of ants, while they’re still alive.”
These heinous actions and statements should be enough evidence to open investigations into their involvement in genocide and war crimes.
For this reason, Human Aid & Advocacy is launching the #ProsecuteGenocide campaign, aimed at pressuring the Metropolitan Police to open investigations and prosecute British nationals who have travelled to Israel to join the Israeli army. Given the UK has been advised that Israel is violating international law, it has a greater duty to prevent further provocation of Israeli war crimes and genocide.
