Foreign Office refuses to disclose notes of ‘secret meeting’ between Lammy and Israeli foreign minister

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has refused to disclose notes concerning a ‘secret meeting’ in April between David Lammy, at the time Keir Starmer’s Foreign Secretary, and his Israeli counterpart Gideon Sa’ar – because they could be “open to misinterpretation” and might harm the UK’s relationship with (genocidal) Israel, Scottish paper The National has revealed. The FCDO blocked publication of any papers relating to the meeting.

Patrick Harvie, a Green party member of the Scottish Parliament described the government’s excuse for hiding details of the meeting as “dangerous“:

The idea that the public cannot see these documents because we might misinterpret them seems extraordinary, and if that excuse is allowed to stand, it would set a dangerous precedent.

Lammy’s suspicious protections

The meeting took place as two legal and human rights organisations, the International Centre for Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) and the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) applied for an arrest warrant for Sa’ar, with Lammy assuring the wanted war criminal that the request would not be granted.

After investigators made a freedom of information (FOI) request for records relating to the meeting, the FCDO failed to respond within the usually-required twenty working days and extended the deadline, supposedly to have additional time to decide “whether release was in the public interest”. Five months later it denied the request claiming that granting it would impact policy development, national security and international relations, adding:

We believe, if viewed, it could be open to misinterpretation, which would damage our relationship with Israel.

The Sa’ar meeting and the guarantee of immunity provided to him is just one in a long line of such protections offered to wanted Israeli war criminals including, three months later, immunity for the “architect of the Gaza genocide”.

Featured image via the Canary