STEPHEN Flynn has warned Keir Starmer not to repeat the “same mistakes and slowness” with the escalating conflict in Lebanon that he made on Gaza.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the SNP’s Westminster leader said de-escalation in the wider Middle East region will only occur when “the full force of diplomatic pressure is applied on all sides to step back from the brink”.
It comes as more than 700 people have been killed in Lebanon since September 23 when Israel intensified its air strikes around the country, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes in south Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburb known as Dahiyeh.
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“Ending arms sales, clear and unequivocal condemnation of their actions and a determination that their military and political leadership will face international accountability and justice for the war crimes the world has witnessed,” he added.
The full text of the letter can be found below.
Letter from SNP Westminster Leader, Stephen Flynn MP, to the Prime Minister
"Dear Prime Minister,
The deteriorating situation in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank is a cause of real and deepening concern. What we are witnessing is first and foremost a humanitarian disaster, with thousands upon thousands of innocent lives lost, suffering and starvation faced by millions and repeated violations of human rights and international law. The brutal Israeli bombardment, the indiscriminate rocket attacks by Hezbollah and Hamas, must all stop immediately and all the remaining hostages must be released.
I welcome your government’s actions to ensure emergency plans are in place to evacuate UK citizens from Lebanon. And I fully acknowledge your genuine desire and your actions to see all sides de-escalate from the point of no return and all-out war. I hope that your initiatives, alongside western allies, during the course of the United Nations General Assembly will finally lead to an immediate ceasefire. The continuing conflict and destabilisation of the region make us all less secure, including Israel itself.
However, in the next diplomatic steps taken by the UK Government, it is also vital that the mistakes and missteps of the last year are not repeated. The slowness of the previous Tory government, and the slowness of your own Labour Party’s response, to the death and destruction in Gaza cannot happen again. Months and months passed before Westminster eventually joined the moral imperative of calling for, and pressing for, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The same mistakes and the same slowness must not be repeated now.
De-escalation will only occur when the full force of diplomatic pressure is applied on all sides to step back from the brink. For those of us in the West, with most influence on the Israeli Government, that diplomatic pressure must mean finally getting serious about the consequences the Netanyahu Government will face if it continues to intensify this conflict. It is clearer than ever that diplomatic pressure with consequences is the only thing the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, will listen to.
That pressure and those consequences must include ending arms sales, clear and unequivocal condemnation of their actions and a determination that their military and political leadership will face international accountability and justice for the war crimes the world has witnessed. The UK government must also be crystal clear that it will cooperate with international institutions to uphold the international rule of law to all parties in the conflict without fear or favour.
We all know that the escalation of the last week is incredibly dangerous for the region, but we know too that the tensions of the Middle East always tremor around the world. The responsibility and the required response from the UK Government must ensure that a co-ordinated international effort and international pressure is now fully applied to stop this conflict sliding into an all-out and prolonged war.
Yours sincerely, Stephen Flynn MP SNP Westminster Leader"
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