CONTEXT

In their latest onslaught Israel killed hundreds of Palestinians across the Occupied Territories, and destroyed civilian necessities like hospitals and schools. In such a situation, silence is complicity in oppression. As Mayor of a prosperous city, a moral stance on Palestine would be more than just words – Sadiq Khan could create a lifeline for a besieged people.

When Israel brutally attacked Palestine in 2014, Khan praised his constituents [1] for donating to support Gaza. When countries that had pledged to rebuild Gaza did not fulfil their promises, Khan was disgusted by their perfidy [2]. Now that he is Mayor, Khan must utilise his position and speak up for Palestine.

ACT NOW

1) Copy our template email below
2) Click here to email Sadiq Khan: mayor@london.gov.uk

TEMPLATE EMAIL:

Dear Mayor Khan,

I am writing to you as a resident of London who is deeply concerned for the people of Palestine.

In the past, as the Member of Parliament for Tooting, you praised your constituents for their support of Palestine [1] and criticised international decision-makers for reneging on their promise to rebuild Gaza [2].

You have written in the past that “The government’s failure to criticise Israel’s incursion is not just a moral failure – it goes directly against Britain’s interests in the world and risks making our citizens less safe as a result” [3] so you know that a clear, strong stance on Israel is needed for the sake of Palestine and even the UK. Unfortunately, your lacklustre statements on both sides de-escalating [4] does not meet your own criteria.

Hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the past few weeks, and Israel continues to harass them across Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and in Israel itself. It is beyond time that London, an influential international city, joins other cities and nations across the world in leveraging a change in Israel’s behaviour. The measures below may sound drastic, but nothing is more drastic than the continued siege of the Gaza, the annexation of the West Bank, the ethnic cleansing of East Jerusalem, and the decades of violating international laws and U.N resolutions.

You must do the following:
1) Retract your pledge to visit Israel, which would only legitimise their apartheid system of rule.
2) Give a public statement condemning Israel’s apartheid state, which has been recognised by human rights organisations. [5]
3) Encourage London’s civil service apparatus to commit to the ‘Boycott, Divestment and Sanction’ movement against Israeli produce from its illegally occupied territories.

Many of your Party colleagues have shown the decency of standing with the oppressed & occupied Palestinians, such as John McDonnell MP, Zarah Sultana MP, Apsana Begum MP, Naz Shah MP, Richard Burgon MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Diane Abbot MP, Bell Ribeiro-Ady MP, etc.

If you refuse to stand on the right side of a simple issue of justice, I can only say that I have lost any faith in you as a protector of human rights, and in future must vote for any other candidate who does support the oppressed people of Palestine.

Yours sincerely

Sources:
[1] https://twitter.com/SadiqKhan/status/493521289605554176
[2] https://twitter.com/SadiqKhan/status/569596409911087104
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/06/warsi-resignation-right-gaza-israel
[4] https://twitter.com/SadiqKhan/status/1392030555110322181
[5] https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution ; https://www.btselem.org/publications/fulltext/202101_this_is_apartheid