Foreign Relations

102 Former Diplomats Urge UK and France to Impose Israel Trade and Arms Bans

Published

Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer seated in cream armchairs facing one another across a small table, with a fireplace and the French and British flags behind them, drawn in warm ochre and slate-blue chalk and pastel strokes with cross-hatching on sepia newsprint.

A joint letter signed by 50 former British and 52 former French diplomats urged Prime Minister Andy Burnham and President Emmanuel Macron to coordinate trade and arms restrictions against Israel. Its seven recommendations include suspending EU and UK agreements with Israel, halting bilateral arms transfers and military cooperation, banning settlement-linked trade and penalizing citizens who buy settlement property. The signatories also called for unrestricted Gaza aid access led by UNRWA and other agencies. The letter says Hamas committed heinous crimes on October 7, 2023, calls Palestinian leadership unrepresentative and dysfunctional, and was not accompanied by any announced British or French government action.

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