UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) have refuted criticism of their letter to Rishi Sunak that countered claims that the UK government is legally obliged to take various actions against Israel, since (it was alleged) there is a plausible risk of genocide by Israel in Gaza.
The authors of the letter that made the original claims wrote what they described as a “rebuttal” of UKLFI’s letter which was published in the Law Society Gazette. UKLFI have now provided a further statement which refutes that “rebuttal” and has also been published in the Law Society Gazette.
In the latest statement, UKLFI make three points:
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UKLFI reiterate that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has not found that there is a “plausible risk of genocide”. The arguments to the contrary misunderstand the conditions for the indication of provisional measures under Article 41 of the ICJ’s Statute, leading them to misinterpret the ICJ’s Provisional Measures Orders in the case brought by South Africa.
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UKLFI note the absence of any substantive contradiction of the analyses which indicate that the casualty statistics produced by the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry are fabricated. Yet the authors of the “rebuttal” accept these statistics while ignoring (and misattributing) the IDF’s assessment of the number of Palestinian combatants killed.
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UKLFI refute the suggestion that Israel is not entitled to respond in self-defence to the barbaric atrocities committed and threatened by Hamas. UKLFI add that the authors of the “rebuttal” provided no basis for their assertion that Israel’s military operation is “grossly disproportionate” apart the casualty figures whose deficiencies they ignore.