A Lawyer Should Know Better
During an interview with Channel 4 News recently (click here to watch), Sadiq Khan’s latest comments about Benjamin Netanyahu betray a disregard for the legal precision that the public is entitled to expect from a former human rights lawyer.
By declaring that “people who commit genocide are not welcome in London”, the Mayor of London portrayed the Israeli Prime Minister as though he has already been found guilty of genocide.
He has not.
The International Criminal Court warrant does not allege genocide. It alleges war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegations that Israel categorically rejects and which have yet to be tested before any trial.
Even Joan Donoghue, the former President of the International Court of Justice, publicly corrected the widespread false claim that the Court had ruled there was a “plausible case of genocide” against Israel. It did no such thing.
Reasonable people may disagree about the ICC warrants and the legal questions surrounding them. What cannot reasonably be disputed is that no international court has found Benjamin Netanyahu guilty of genocide, and the ICC has not accused him of that crime.
Sadiq Khan is not simply another politician commenting on international affairs. He is the Mayor of London and a former human rights lawyer. He knows, or certainly should know, the difference between an allegation and a judicial finding, between an arrest warrant and a conviction, and between war crimes and genocide.
Yet he chose language that could only leave many people with the false impression that genocide has already been established as a matter of law.
At a time when Britain’s Jewish community is experiencing the highest levels of antisemitism in decades, following attacks on Hatzolah ambulances, the Golders Green stabbing, synagogue attacks and an unprecedented surge in anti-Jewish hatred, such conduct is not merely irresponsible. It is a failure of leadership. Public figures have a duty to lower tensions through accuracy and restraint, not inflame them by presenting allegations as established legal fact.
Sadiq Khan is entitled to his political opinions. He is not entitled to exploit the language of international law to lend legitimacy to a narrative that no international court has actually determined.
For a former human rights lawyer, that is a profound failure of professional judgement.
For the Mayor of London, it is inexcusable.
