Starmer’s FCDO closes Israel war-crime monitoring unit, ‘loses’ massive evidence
The Starmer government’s Foreign Office (FCDO) has closed down its unit that tracked Israeli atrocities and breaches of humanitarian law in Gaza and Lebanon. The closure also shuts down the Conflict and Security Monitoring Project run by the Centre for Information Resilience. This is — now was — the FCDO-funded project that reviews the legality of arms exports to the genocidal colony.
The cuts flow from orders by Olly Robbins, the FCDO’s senior civil servant until he was sacked as the fall-guy for Starmer’s latest Mandelson scandal. Before taking the FCDO post, Robbins worked for a “secretive corporate intelligence firm” founded by former MI6 spies.
The closure also means the government is losing access to a database of at least 26,000 verified incidents involving Israel and its military in occupied Palestine and Lebanon, committed since the start of Israel’s Gaza genocide in October 2023. The ‘lost’ evidence includes videos, photographs, satellite imagery and other media — all mapped to the locations in which the atrocities were perpetrated.
‘Losing’, of course, may not be the correct word. The Starmer government has shown less than zero interest in holding Israel to account for its crimes. Starmer’s previous gig as head of the Crown Prosecution Service was also marked by conveniently disappearing evidence relating to notorious crimes and his involvement in decisions not to prosecute.
Certainly this ‘loss’ is very convenient for a UK police state all too eager to continue collaborating in Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity, land theft and illegal wars of aggression. Human Rights Watch director Yasmine Ahmed described the decision to throw away evidence of Israel’s crimes as “damning”.
Damned right.
Featured image via the Canary
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does this not come under tampering with evidence! is there some kind legal preservation order that obliges the dept to pass on all evidence/info re possible crimes to interested parties. at the very least couldn’t this important info be archived?!
There are other ways to prove this. Just because Britain says it didn’t happen doesn’t mean anything. There are other ways to prove what has happened. Flight records, intelligence etc cannot just go missing without heads rolling.
There are other ways to prove this. Just because Britain says it didn’t happen doesn’t mean anything. There are other ways to prove what has happened. Flight records, intelligence etc cannot just go missing without heads rolling.
The CIR appears to be more resilient than that. Check out their site.
Does the UK’s worst PM ever, aka the POS PM, realize that in removing evidence of possible war crimes he could therefore be considered an accessory to war crimes and therefore a war criminal himself? Oh, but I forgot, Western war criminals are never punished.
Does the proposal to close the FCDO unit monitoring Israel’s numerous war crimes include an intention to ‘lose’ already collected data and evidene? It is hard to think of anything more shameful by our government that supports Genocide, tolerates Apartheid and warmongers against children in Gaza.