Starmer’s FCDO closes Israel war-crime monitoring unit, ‘loses’ massive evidence

The Starmer government’s Foreign Office (FCDO) has closed down its unit that tracked Israeli atrocities and breaches of humanitarian law in Gaza and Lebanon. The closure also shuts down the Conflict and Security Monitoring Project run by the Centre for Information Resilience. This is — now was — the FCDO-funded project that reviews the legality of arms exports to the genocidal colony.

The cuts flow from orders by Olly Robbins, the FCDO’s senior civil servant until he was sacked as the fall-guy for Starmer’s latest Mandelson scandal. Before taking the FCDO post, Robbins worked for a “secretive corporate intelligence firm” founded by former MI6 spies.

The closure also means the government is losing access to a database of at least 26,000 verified incidents involving Israel and its military in occupied Palestine and Lebanon, committed since the start of Israel’s Gaza genocide in October 2023. The ‘lost’ evidence includes videos, photographs, satellite imagery and other media — all mapped to the locations in which the atrocities were perpetrated.

‘Losing’, of course, may not be the correct word. The Starmer government has shown less than zero interest in holding Israel to account for its crimes. Starmer’s previous gig as head of the Crown Prosecution Service was also marked by conveniently disappearing evidence relating to notorious crimes and his involvement in decisions not to prosecute.

Certainly this ‘loss’ is very convenient for a UK police state all too eager to continue collaborating in Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity, land theft and illegal wars of aggression. Human Rights Watch director Yasmine Ahmed described the decision to throw away evidence of Israel’s crimes as “damning”.

Damned right.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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