“We got ourselves into a bit of a mess because of a legal anomaly that needs to be fixed. A legal amendment to the law has been introduced, he said, and is working its way through the parliamentary process. “All three major political parties support the change.” Gould was confident that the amendment would pass into law “in months not years.”
— Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Israel.
By Dr. David Halpin —
The Rt Honourable William J Hague
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles St
London
SW1A 2AH
Re: Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Israel and the law
Dear Mr Hague,
I wrote to you ** 10 November 2010 with six other citizens, pleading that you sought clemency for Tariq Aziz who had been sentenced to hang by the Iraqi Supreme Criminal Tribunal (ISCT). We observed that tribunal had been set up by the Coalition Provisional Authority after the illegal bombardment and invasion of Iraq and thus the verdict and sentence given by the ISCT were not founded in law. We received an entirely inadequate reply from the FCO about six weeks later.
This letter is open therefore.
This letter concerns very serious matters. I refer you to an article in the Jerusalem Post
‘Gould says UK won’t yet recognize Palestinian state’ by Greer Fay Cashman 03/09/2011
In response to the inevitable question about the universal jurisdiction law which has prevented various Israeli dignitaries from visiting the UK for fear of arrest, Gould said: “We got ourselves into a bit of a mess because of a legal anomaly that needs to be fixed. A legal amendment to the law has been introduced, he said, and is working its way through the parliamentary process. “All three major political parties support the change.” Gould was confident that the amendment would pass into law “in months not years.”
Her Majesty’s ambassador (Interview: Matthew Gould) to Israel refers of course to our Geneva Conventions Act 1957. He confirms, if we did not know, that an amendment is being pressed in the Mother of Parliaments in response to requests from Tel Aviv. He did not have the courage to say that the threatened arrests of Israeli leaders came directly out of their criminal actions. It is normal and principled is it not for nations to maintain their laws rather than finding ways of accomodating the perpetrators of the most heinous crimes. But we see that Mr Gould is consistent in bending his knee before criminals.
”On the lighter side, Gould said that when he met Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni, he apologized to her for the fact that the British Mandate authorities had arrested her parents.”
I recalled a connection between Ms Livni, her father and Irgun. This from the Jewish Virtual Library
Her parents both belonged to right-wing RevisionistZeev Jabotinsky’s Betar movement, which morphed into Herut and then today’s Likud party. They were also both fighters in its Irgun undergound militia. The “little Sarah,” who figured in the words of the rousing “On the Barricades,” was actually her mother, Sarah (Rosenberg) Livni, who once, disguised as a pregnant woman, helped rob a train carrying salaries for British Mandatory officials.
Did Mr Gould ask Ms Livni how many British soldiers did her parents help kill, including those who had fought to free Europe from the Nazis in those few years before? Or how many Palestinians did they drive from their homes, their land and their living by terror and force of arms? Does the ambassador know that the parents he was jokingly forgiving had been part of the ethnic cleansing of 800,000 of the native people, that being two-thirds of the population? Does he appreciate that Ms Livni is an important cog in the genocide of the Palestinian people which has continued over the 62 years to this day? Did the Livni parents play any part in the massacre of Deir Yassin or in the many other massacres? Would or should a British representative even joke about forgiving such people?
I would like to advise you Mr Hague. I have stood alongside the Palestinian people in their agony and I know quite a bit about the ‘situation’ and its history. Please do not mouth the words ‘peace process’ when all you are talking about is the total domination of the ineptly named ‘West Bank’ ghettoes by the Zionist entity. Instead speak of UNGA 194 November 1948 and insist upon the early return of all those Palestinian people who yearn for freedom in their own land.
Your government has already invaded Libya illegally and plans wider action through NATO. This is on the pretext of the prevention of harm to the ‘rebels’. But you ignore the many criminal acts done daily to the Palestinians even though Britain was the well spring of their tears. A no-fly/no-fire zone for Gaza should have been demanded by Britain years ago.
Read this paper I wrote at Christmas ‘The methodical shooting of boys at work in Gaza by snipers of the Israeli Occupation Force’.
These 24 lads were bending to the task with many others in picking up and sifting concrete rubble when they were shot deliberately by their most evil oppressors. The British Medical Journal rejected my paper and the Lancet editor did not reply. 3 more boys have been shot recently. See Defence for Children International (PDF Report) – Palestine in Ramallah has been recording these deliberate woundings 65 years from the ennunciation of the Nuremberg Principles. Its staff are also logging the illegal imprisonment and the torture of minors from the ‘West Bank’. In regard to the deliberate shooting of the lads at Erez and to all the other crimes, I ask that you leave the Geneva Conventions Act intact. The responsible officer for the injury of the former was Gabi Ashkenazi Chief of the General Staff (Rav Aluf) (2007–2011) until 14 February 2011. He should never dare come to these shores. Many thousands of crimes committed on Palestinians can be brought to you.
For truth, reason and truth
David Halpin MB BS FRCS
Devon, U.K.
REF / 10 November 2010
The Rt Honourable William J Hague
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles St
London
SW1A 2AH
The sentencing to death of Tariq Aziz, formerly Foreign Secretary to the Republic of Iraq
Dear Mr Hague,
We write as citizens of the UK and as fellow humans. We plead that you and your government seek clemency for this man who represented the interests of Iraq abroad. Our main reasons are:-
1.The present government lacks full legitimacy, so the lawfulness of its courts might not be sound. We note that the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal, which tried him, was set up by the Coalition Provisional Authority ie by the occupation forces.
The man has been incarcerated since April 2003
He is old at 74 years and ill. The BBC reported in January this year that he had suffered a stroke
How will the agony and the slaughter in Iraq be healed by hooding and hanging this man?
We are reinforced in our pleading by these clear words in HMG Death Penalty Strategy: October 2010.
“Why is abolition of the death penalty important? Promoting human rights and democracy is a priority for the UK. We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle.”
and under ‘Our Vision’
“1. The UK cares about the death penalty because: Promoting human rights and democracy overseas is a priority for HMG. The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle because it undermines human dignity; there is no conclusive evidence of its deterrent value; and any miscarriage of justice leading to its imposition is irreversible and irreparable.”
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