MPs from the Independent Alliance have challenged the media to push UK prime minister Keir Starmer harder on the British government’s involvement in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. They accuse Starmer of complicity in war crimes, evading legal obligations, engaging in secretive and potentially unlawful military support, denying genocide despite overwhelming evidence, and blocking efforts for democratic accountability. And they encourage journalists to take the risk of holding him to account for all this.
Independent Alliance: “Journalism During a Genocide“
Highlighting Israel’s murder of many dozens of journalists who try to document what’s been happening in Gaza, they said:
Exposing the truth comes at a cost
In Gaza, journalists have paid with their lives.
Here in Britain, journalists may damage personal relationships or hamper their professional ambitions. In an ongoing genocide, these risks are surely worth taking.
The British establishment media, however, has overwhelmingly failed. As the MPs added:
For too long, this government has avoided real scrutiny over the full scale of its complicity in crimes against humanity. The media has a responsibility to hold the government to account and expose the truth.
In particular, they stressed that the “numerous press conferences” Starmer has held since becoming prime minister give journalists the opportunity to hold him to account.
Today, the Independent Alliance delivered media handbooks to mainstream press outlets, suggesting basic ways they could hold the Prime Minister to account over Gaza.
You can read the full handbook here: https://t.co/WwnzMQo81x pic.twitter.com/CWRUqYyO6U
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) May 12, 2025
The charges against Starmer
Because “transparency and accountability are cornerstones of democracy”, the MPs asserted, “the public deserves to know the full scale of the UK’s complicity in crimes against humanity”, particularly via “the sale of weapons, the supply of intelligence and the use of Royal Air Force (RAF) bases in Cyprus”. Indeed, one report called RAF Akrotiri “a foundational asset for genocide”, saying Britain is “engaged in military actions without being subject to parliamentary scrutiny”.
The MPs also accused the government of “knowingly and openly making an exception to its legal obligations” regarding the sale of arms. This comes a week after a new report showed Israel recording the entry of 8,630 items of death and destruction from the UK in recent months despite despite Starmer’s team supposedly banning items the occupying power could use for its war crimes in Gaza.
The Independent Alliance added that:
both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have… have made statements denying the existence of genocide in Gaza, contradicting the claim that it is for the courts, not governments, to make that determination
And they stressed that “the government is yet to respond” to a March call for “a full, public, independent inquiry into the UK’s involvement” in Gaza.
There are also accusations of the government ignoring a request for the arrest of Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar on a recent visit, and of hypocrisy for sanctioning Russia widely “for breaches of international law” but not doing so with Israel.
Journalists: ask these questions
The MPs suggested that journalists ask, among others, the following questions:
- Is it the government’s position that it cannot – or will not – bring the F-35 programme in line with the UK’s legal obligations?
- Is RAF Akrotiri being used as a route for weapons to be deployed in Gaza?
- Has the government sought legal advice over the continued use of RAF Akrotiri to support Israeli military operations?
- Have Israeli F-35 jets been stored and/or repaired at RAF bases?
- Have you received any advice on the definition of genocide and its applicability to the situation in Gaza? If so, are their comments in line with your advice?
- When will any advice be made public? If you have not offered any such advice, why not?
- Why have you ignored the demand for an independent inquiry?
We strongly urge mainstream journalists with a conscience, and access to press conferences, to push Starmer and his government to answer these questions. They can access the full document here. It includes links, further details, and more questions.
Featured image supplied
