News / Declaration of genocide in Gaza is ‘watershed moment’ for world, MP says
Group will also walk from Sumburgh to Lerwick on Saturday for fundraiser
A “WATERSHED moment” for the world.
That is how Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael has described a United Nations finding that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
A new report has found that there are reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five genocidal acts defined under international law have been carried out against Palestinians by Israel since Hamas started the war in late 2023.
These acts are killing members of a group, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions caused to destroy the group and preventing births.
Carmichael said the word genocide was “not one that should be thrown about lightly”, but that the whole world had seen “the man-made humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.
“2.1 million people are under siege and essentially being slowly starved by Israeli actions,” he said.
“The United Nations inquiry sets out the brutal facts on the ground. The report makes it clear that there is genocidal intent in the public statements of ministers in the Netanyahu government.
“There comes a point where we must call it what it is.
“This needs to be a watershed moment not just for our government but across the world.
“No one can say at this point that the evidence is insufficient – it is time for the government to act.”
It comes a week after Carmichael met with the President of Palestine Mahmood Abbas during his visit to the UK.
The pair discussed the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the humanitarian crisis in Palestine, and progress towards recognition of a Palestinian state.
Carmichael said it had been a “genuine privilege and an honour” to meet the president.
“For all my own criticism of the pace of action by our government, he was very positive about the UK’s contribution to progress towards recognising Palestinian statehood,” he said.
“It was hard not to be moved as well by the passion with which President Abbas spoke about the contribution of British medics to relieving the suffering of those who had been injured and maimed by the conflict in Gaza.”
Meanwhile more than two dozen people are set to walk 30 miles from Sumburgh to Lerwick on Saturday to raise money for organisations in both Israel and Palestine.
The money will go towards organisations which work for peace and provide humanitarian relief for children who have survived the genocide.
Green councillor Alex Armitage and Lucy Livingstone are the two organisers of the walk, and Armitage said the South Mainland of Shetland was of a similar size to that of the Gaza Strip.
“The 30 mile walk that Shetlanders will take on Saturday represents the long, treacherous journeys that Palestinian civilians have been forced to make during the genocide,” he said.
The walk is set to start at Sumburgh Lighthouse at 6am, and will pass through locations such as Quendale, Spiggie, Bigton, Wester Quarff and Gulberwick before arriving at the Market Cross in Lerwick at 9pm.
A fundraiser, which can be viewed here, has been set up and raised over £1,000 so far. Folk are asked to donate generously if they have the means.
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