CMEC Honorary President, Lord Soames of Fletching, called for the West to uphold the international rule of law, in the Foreign Affairs and Defence debate on the Kings Speech, in the House of Lords, on July 25th 2024. This is the unabridged text of his full speech.
Full unabridged text of Lord Soames's speech:
My Lords, as we debate these issues here today, we cannot ignore the appalling terror attack and hostage-taking by Hamas on October 7th. Neither can we ignore the terrible consequences: More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed, including around 15,000 children, and more than 10,000 are missing under the rubble.
I am not here, my Lords, to questions Israel’s undoubted legal right to defend itself. I am here to remind Nobel Lords about the importance of International Rule of Law, to ask this Chamber if we still believe it is worth defending, and if this Chamber believes that it is, to be clear about some very difficult facts, and our responsibility in the face of these.
Even before the terrible events of October 7th, our proclaimed ally, Israel, had long been acting in defiance of the jurisdiction of international organisations and treaties, in breach of more than 30 UN Resolutions, and The Geneva Conventions.
The catalogue of violations and rulings are dismal: whether it’s the UN Security Council Resolution 478 in 1980 condemning the annexation of Jerusalem; the ICJ’s 2004 advisory opinion of the illegality of the Separation Barrier, or the various UN Charter Resolutions concerning the occupation, illegal settlements and forceful and unlawful annexation of land.
But beyond customary verbal condemnations, the West turned a blind eye to these breaches. We made clear by our apathy, that Israel was an exception to the rules. We in the West are now dangerously exposed by that apathy.
In September 2022, the UN Independent Commission concluded in its report to UN General Assembly, that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory
“…was unlawful under international law owing to its permanence and to actions undertaking by Israel to annex parts of the land de facto and de jure.”
The Commission stated that the permanent occupation and annexation by Israel could not remain unaddressed, and the General Assembly requested the ICJ provide an advisory opinion.
That ICJ advisory opinion finally arrived on Friday. (Friday, July 19th). It stated that the occupation of Palestinian territory was now illegal under international law.
This ruling was welcomed as “historic” and “clear and unambiguous” by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel. But it only formalised what we already knew.
And make no mistake, Netanyahu’s government is accelerating in lawlessness. While eyes have been fixed on Gaza, almost 600 Palestinians have been killed in the Occupied West Bank since October 7th. Settlers have reportedly carried out more than a thousand attacks on Palestinians with apparent impunity, and allegedly often with the protection of Israeli security forces.
Dangerous rhetoric is being ratcheted up by extremist elements within Netanyahu’s government. It is reported that Israel has recently approved or advanced plans for around 5,300 homes in dozens of illegal settlements across the West Bank and “legalised” three informal outposts as new neighbourhoods of existing settlements in the Jordan Valley and near the city of Hebron, to obliterate any possibility of a Palestinian State.
This is the kind of lawless behaviour we might expect from a rogue state, an enemy of The West, and an enemy of a rules-based-order. But let me remind Nobel Lords, that this is a first-world state, a proclaimed key ally of the UK, the US and The West.
My Lords, if The West is to maintain any hold or credibility in upholding the rules-based-order on which we all depend, Rule of Law must apply to all equally. If it does not, it is not Rule of Law at all.
And it is now clear that the result of our determined blindness has not kept our ally, Israel safe. It has done the opposite. My Lords, we are faced with cross-roads; a choice:
We can either cast aside selective blindness, recognise and act upon Rule of Law, without fear or favour, however difficult it may be. Or we can continue in determined blindness. But if we do that latter, we must know that we are jettisoning an order that was hard-won, we cannot be surprised when other world-actors replace it, and we cannot be surprised at the consequences that follow.