Dissenting civil servants are silenced, says UK diplomat who quit over Gaza

Mark Smith resigned past August implicit the UK’s nonaccomplishment to halt selling arms to Israel, amid the genocide successful Gaza.

London, United Kingdom – Mark Smith, a diplomat who discontinue his Foreign Office occupation implicit the UK’s refusal to halt selling arms to Israel, said civilian servants who question the onslaught successful Gaza are routinely silenced by their seniors.

“Thousands of conversations wrong the walls of the Foreign Office connected the astir arguable aspects of our arms income argumentation volition ne'er beryllium seen by the nationalist [and] ne'er beryllium enactment to a court,” helium said connected Friday successful London, astatine an unofficial enquiry probing alleged UK complicity successful Israeli warfare crimes.

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He said helium was repeatedly warned by colleagues against documenting his concerns successful writing, arsenic helium worked connected a study assessing whether the authorities is legally compliant successful exporting arms to definite countries.

“I was routinely asked to spell to elder directors’ offices and told to, quote, ‘make the concern look little bad,” said Smith, who was a diplomat and argumentation advisor astatine the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. “Sections that I’ve written which talked astir civilian casualties, for example, I was asked to benignant of play them down, marque them smaller.”

He described the office’s moving civilization arsenic “very strange” and “different to thing I’ve ever experienced successful the civilian service”.

“Everyone wanted to marque it look arsenic though we were connected the close broadside of the law, and immoderate benignant of proposition [otherwise] tended to beryllium met with panic and a benignant of utmost pressure, to not speech astir that.”

He said it is “fully understood successful the department” that conversations astir the UK’s behaviour and narration with Israel should instrumentality spot “in idiosyncratic and not successful writing”.

“The crushed for that is that we didn’t privation those conversations to beryllium requested by a court,” helium claimed.

Smith resigned successful August 2024, saying astatine the clip that determination was “no justification” for the UK to support exporting weapons to Israel. He said helium had raised the contented astatine “every level successful the organisation” and received thing much than, “thank you, we person noted your concerns.

“I had sedate concerns erstwhile Israel was conducting aerial campaigns successful Gaza,” helium told the country connected Thursday. “I couldn’t recognize however the squad were justifying that due to the fact that to adjacent an extracurricular perspective, it was precise wide that Israel was successful breach of warfare crimes.”

Smith addressed the alleged “Gaza tribunal” headed by Jeremy Corbyn, an autarkic lawmaker and erstwhile Labour leader, appearing via videolink with his camera turned off.

Few different British civilian servants person publically resigned implicit the UK’s argumentation regarding Gaza.

Fran Heathcote, caput of the Public and Commercial Services Union, which represents civilian servants, said her organisation believes that the UK “is asking civilian servants to undertake interactions with the authorities engaged successful genocide”, referring to Israel.

The British authorities is “ignoring the concerns that person been raised by their commercialized union”, she said, “ignoring the provisions of its ain civilian work codification and ignoring a full scope of home and planetary ineligible obligations by which it is banned”.

She said civilian servants from respective departments troubled by British argumentation regarding Gaza person been successful interaction with the union, informally seeking advice.

Mark Smith, a British civilian servant who discontinue implicit the UK’s weapons commercialized with Israel, said elder colleagues successful the Foreign Office tried to soundlessness his concerns [Anealla Safdar/Al Jazeera]

A period aft Smith resigned, David Lammy, the overseas secretary, announced that the UK would revoke immoderate arms export licences, saying determination was “a wide hazard that they mightiness beryllium utilized to perpetrate oregon facilitate a superior usurpation of planetary humanitarian law”.

But campaigners person agelong called for tougher enactment connected Israel, demanding the UK halt exporting British-made components of the F-35 jets, via the planetary excavation programme, arsenic the genocide successful Gaza continues.

“These parts tin and bash yet extremity up successful the Israeli F-35,” said Rami Khayal of the Palestinian Youth Movement group.