THE UK Government is accused of trying to “cover up complicity in genocide” after refusing to publish documents linked to a secret meeting with a top Israel minister for a fourth time.
On April 15, Foreign Secretary David Lammy held an undisclosed meeting with Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar in London. It came one month after Israel had broken the ceasefire in Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinians in a single night, and with a complete blockade on aid still in place.
After knowledge of Sa’ar’s London visit became public following reports in the Middle East Eye and The National, two groups – the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and the Hind Rajab Foundation – filed an application for an arrest warrant.
The two groups alleged that Sa’ar had aided and abetted grave breaches of international humanitarian law in Palestine including torture, wilful killing, and extensive destruction of property.
The arrest warrant was refused by the UK Government on April 17, as Lammy had reportedly personally assured Sa’ar would happen.
The following day, on April 18, The National submitted a Freedom of Information request to the UK Government’s Foreign Office asking for “all internal and external correspondence, briefing notes, meeting minutes, reports, emails, and other documentation” relating to Sa’ar’s visit. This was to include:
- Any preparations or planning for Sa’ar’s visit.
- Any correspondence with Israeli officials relating to the visit.
- Any security, diplomatic, or policy briefings relating to Sa’ar’s visit.
- Any documentation created as a result of the visit.
- Any documentation or communications related to the arrest warrant request put in by the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and the Hind Rajab Foundation.
The Foreign Office was asked to only release non-exempt material if any part was deemed exempt from release under Freedom of Information laws.
The Foreign Office had 20 working days from the date it received the request in which to respond. However, it did not acknowledge receipt until four days later, on April 22 – and so set a deadline for response on May 21, 2025.
On the day of the deadline, the Foreign Office confirmed it held the information requested. However, it said that a public interest test had been engaged, and officials were determining whether the public’s right to information outweighed concerns around “international relations”.
The Foreign Office said that a decision should have been made on the issue by June 19.
On June 19, the Foreign Office said it needed “more time to consider the balance of public interest in disclosing the information you requested”. The deadline was pushed back to July 18.
On August 18, the same boilerplate email was sent again, this time with the deadline pushed back to September 16.
Chris Law, the SNP MP for Dundee Central and his party’s international development spokesperson at Westminster, said: “The Prime Minister claims his government are doing everything they reasonably can to pressure the Israeli government over their genocidal plans in Gaza, yet time and again, they refuse to share the proof.
“The continued refusal to share documents around Gideon Sa’ar’s secret visit in April will only raise further suspicions that Starmer’s government are actively trying to cover up their failures.
“It is time the Prime Minister comes clean, stops covering for the Israeli government, and finally delivers on their recent promises to hold the Israeli government accountable.”
Scottish Green MSP and co-leader candidate Ross Greer said: "It is no surprise that Labour want to cover up their complicity in Israel's ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. If there is any justice though, they will one day have to answer for their role in this crime, preferably from the dock at the Hague.
“Keir Starmer has chosen to train Israeli soldiers here on UK soil, to send the RAF over Gaza to collect 'intelligence' which is passed straight on to the Israeli occupation forces, and to host leading members of their genocidal regime here, including the foreign minister and head of their air force.
“He, David Lammy and other UK ministers cannot escape their role in this massacre."
Writing on Tuesday, Omer Bartov – an Israeli-born academic currently working as the Dean’s professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University in the US – said that Benjamin Netanyahu bore “primary responsibility” for the October 7 attacks on Israel and should stand trial for genocide.
“While vast numbers of people are complicit in genocide – and in the current case, governments that not only refused to stop the killing when they could, but kept supplying Israel with arms, economic assistance, and a diplomatic iron dome, are also complicit – the head of state must be seen as the primary culprit,” Bartov wrote.
