Ukraine to set up mechanism to supply food to Syria, Zelensky says

LONDON: The UK must issue sanctions on the Israeli government and push for its suspension from the UN, a group of more than 800 senior lawyers, former judges and academics has said.

They added that this would encourage Israel to meet its “fundamental international legal obligations” amid international outrage over the war in Gaza, The Guardian reported.

The appeal came in a letter to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who delivered a joint statement last week alongside the leaders of France and Canada threatening Israel with “concrete actions.”

Starmer must act without delay and take “urgent and decisive action ... to avert the destruction of the Palestinian people of Gaza,” the letter said.

It was signed by figures including former Supreme Court justices Lord Sumption and Lord Wilson, Court of Appeal judges and more than 70 king’s counsels.

They accuse Israel of carrying out war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law against Palestinians.

The letter warned that there is mounting evidence in Gaza of genocide, which is either being perpetrated or at serious risk of taking place.

It cited recent comments by Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s far-right finance minister, who said the country’s military would “wipe out” the presence of Palestinian life in Gaza.

“All states, including the UK, are legally obliged to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent and punish genocide; to ensure respect for international humanitarian law; and to bring to an end violations of (the right to self-determination),” the letter said.

“The UK’s actions to date have failed to meet those standards … The international community’s failure to uphold international law in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory contributes to a deteriorating international climate of lawlessness and impunity and imperils the international legal system itself. Your government must act now, before it is too late.”

Last week, Foreign Secretary David Lammy suspended negotiations over a new free trade agreement with Israel.

But he must place further pressure by reviewing existing trade links, imposing sanctions and suspending the 2030 strategy for building closer UK-Israel ties, the letter said.

Israeli ministers and senior military officials must be immediately placed under sanctions, signatories said, accusing them of inciting genocide and sponsoring illegal settlement-building.

Israel has also carried out “an unparalleled assault on the UN,” the letter said, highlighting its banning of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and repeated “attacks on UN premises, property and personnel.” The Israeli strategy points to a “broader challenge to the UN charter system itself,” it added.

Signatory Guy Goodwin-Gill, emeritus fellow of All Souls College at the University of Oxford, said: “Now is the time for the UK to show its commitment to the rule of law and to a future in which Palestinians can freely fulfil their right to self-determination.

“Everyone must be free from persecution, from displacement and ethnic cleansing, from the devastation and death deliberately inflicted on them in their homes, schools and hospitals, in their farms and villages. No one should ever be a refugee in their own land.”

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since October 2023.

The letter to Starmer adds further pressure on him to take action against Israel amid mounting international anger over Gaza.

A significant number of MPs from both the ruling Labour Party and opposition Conservative Party have said the UK’s recent actions do not go far enough.

JAKARTA: Indonesia has marked the biggest seizure of drugs in its history as authorities intercepted 2 tonnes of methamphetamine coming from the Golden Triangle, the world’s most notorious drug-producing region.

The drug bust, carried out by a joint task force from the National Narcotics Agency, the Indonesian Armed Forces, Customs, and the National Police, was a five-month intelligence-based operation.

As the Sea Dragon Terawa vessel, which carried the narcotics, entered Indonesian waters last week, it was escorted to Tanjung Uncang port in Batam for a customs search and crew inspection.

During the search, authorities discovered cardboard boxes wrapped in clear plastic, each containing numerous green tea packages containing 2,000 packages of methamphetamine weighing 2,115 kg, the narcotics agency said in a press conference on Monday.

“The 2-tonne methamphetamine (bust) is the largest seizure in the history of drug eradication in Indonesia,” the narcotics agency’s head, Marthinus Hukom, told reporters.

Six crew members — four Indonesians and two Thais — have been arrested by police. Under Indonesian law, they could face the death penalty or life in prison if convicted.

They are believed to be part of the same group that was behind another drug haul intercepted in the waters off Riau Islands earlier this month.

The crew of the Aungtoetoe99 vessel — comprising nationals of Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand — was arrested on May 13 with 1.2 tonnes of cocaine and 768 kg of methamphetamine.

Hukom said they were offered 50,000 baht ($1,500) per trip by a syndicate operating in the Golden Triangle region.

The Golden Triangle, where the borders of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand meet, has been synonymous with the global drug trade. From the 1950s to the early 2000s, it was one of the largest heroin-producing regions.

Recently, it has also become a major source of methamphetamine, especially meth pills and crystal meth, much of which is trafficked throughout Asia and beyond.

“Information from partners indicates that there is an international narcotics syndicate from the Golden Triangle region whose operations involve a network of illicit drug distribution in Indonesia,” Hukom said.

“The narcotics carried by the vessel Sea Dragon Terawa are suspected to have been intended for distribution to several countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines.”