UK MPs join Corbyn's call for 'Chilcot-style' inquiry into UK role in Gaza

A group of cross-party British MPs has recently expressed support for the call made by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for a "Chilcot-style" inquiry into the UK's involvement in the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Corbyn, currently an independent MP, pointed out in a letter to the Prime Minister on March 4 that the UK plays a "hugely influential role" in Israel's military operations.

Corbyn recalled the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War, which found that the Tony Blair government's decisions were based on "flawed intelligence and assessments." He urged a similar investigation into the UK's complicity in Israel's attacks on Gaza, which have resulted in at least 61,000 deaths.

Currently, Labour MPs Richard Burgon, Brian Leishman, and Diane Abbott, as well as Corbyn's independent alliance member, independent MP Zarah Sultana, the Scottish National Party's Brendan O'Hara, and Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer, have joined the ranks of those supporting the request. The group stated in a letter to The Guardian on Thursday evening: "The UK plays a hugely influential role in Israel's military operations, including arms sales, the supply of intelligence, and the use of RAF bases in Cyprus."

The letter also emphasized: "Transparency and accountability are cornerstones of democracy. Therefore, we demand an independent public inquiry into the UK's involvement in Israel's military attacks on Gaza." The inquiry should "require full cooperation from ministers involved in the decision-making process since October 2023." "Many believe that government decisions have embroiled officials in the most serious violations of international law. These allegations will not disappear until an inquiry with the legal power to establish the truth takes place."

Previously, former Foreign Office official Mark Smith stated last month that he witnessed "conduct among officials which I believe crossed the threshold of complicity in war crimes." He reported: "Officials were coerced into silence, procedures were manipulated to produce politically convenient outcomes, and whistleblowers were obstructed, isolated, and ignored." Corbyn referred in his initial letter to a January report by the British Palestinian Committee, which detailed the procurement of weapons from the Israeli military industry and the use of British military bases. The UK, the US, and Germany used the RAF Akrotiri base on the island of Cyprus to provide Israel with "weapons, personnel, and intelligence." The report argued that the UK has "not only failed in its third-party responsibility to uphold international law but is effectively complicit in acts of genocide against the Palestinian people."