Dear Shabana Mahmood (Home Secretary) and Yvette Cooper (Foreign Secretary),
We, the undersigned, are politicians, lawyers, campaigners, human rights defenders, journalists, and concerned members of the public who believe the public interest is best served by monitoring the entry of British-Israeli dual national citizens into the UK and investigating potential links to war crimes, in cases where they have served in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
Such concerns are well-founded given extensive documentation of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide perpetrated by the IDF since October 2023. In the interests of international and domestic law, transparency, and public safety, we hereby demand that the UK government:
a) Implement a disclosure requirement regarding service in the Israeli military, subjecting travellers with Israeli travel documents or arriving from an origin of Tel Aviv airport to potential secondary screening at ports of entry under domestic war crimes inadmissibility rules and/or adjusted visa policies
b) Conduct robust, impartial and independent investigations and prosecutions at national or international levels, in compliance with the obligation to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law, to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes.
Earlier this year, Declassified UK revealed how over 2,000 Britons have served for Israel since October 2023. The article and source material can be found here. This information would never have come to light using UK sources, raising serious transparency concerns.
The UK government does not currently collect data on British nationals serving in the IDF, and soldiers returning from Israel have not been questioned about their activities in the region. Instead, the information came from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request issued to the IDF by a lawyer in Israel.
The UK government’s failure to collect data on the movements of potential Israeli war criminals raises serious concerns. Individuals who have returned from fighting in Gaza may now be living alongside us and working in public institutions such as hospitals, the police, and schools.
Nobody wants to live next to a potential war criminal – not least members of the Palestinian community in the UK who have family or friends who have been subjected to war crimes.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who oversaw IDF operations in Gaza.
Meanwhile, in January 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found “plausible” evidence that genocide has taken place in Gaza, and the UN Commission of Inquiry (UN COI) concluded that “Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza strip” and that “the Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of extermination in the Gaza Strip”.
In light of the opinions of the ICC, the ICJ and the UN COI, the UK government must immediately implement the above measures in order to ensure sufficient scrutiny of IDF soldiers returning to the UK, in the interests of international and domestic law, transparency, and public safety.
This letter has been co-authored by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) and Declassified UK.
Click here to see the open letter and the public figures who have already signed it.
