Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu<\/span> as he is wanted for arrest by International Criminal Court, invest in screening to stop the UK financing \u201ccomplicit\u201d companies, and enforce the United Nations\u2019 principles on business and human rights across the UK\u2019s economic systems.<\/p>\n\u201cWe see this not only as a moral imperative, but as a matter of professional responsibility \u2013 consistent with our duty to act in the best interests of long-term societal and economic resilience,\u201d the letter reads. \u201cThe UK must ensure that no business \u2013 whether through products, services, or supply chains \u2013 is contributing to these atrocities, directly or indirectly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among the signatories are the former royal adviser Jonathon Porritt CBE; sustainability consultant Adam Garfunkel; Frieda Gormley, the founder of the luxury interior design brand House of Hackney; the prominent philanthropist who once led Unilever, Paul Polman; and Geetie Singh-Watson MBE, an organic food entrepreneur \u2013 as well as other professionals who have been honoured with the Member of the British Empire (MBE) award.<\/p>\n
They have pledged to support the UK government with an \u201congoing process of reflection and action \u2013 reviewing our operations, supply chains, financial flows, and influence to help foster peace, uphold human rights, and strengthen respect for international law\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusiness cannot succeed in societies that are falling apart,\u201d said Polman. \u201cIt is time for business leaders to show courage, speak out, and use our influence to uphold international law.\u201d<\/p>\n
The number of professionals signing the letter is growing as Palestinians in the Gaza Strip face their darkest days. Israel is beginning a feared invasion<\/span> into Gaza City while thousands endure hunger and famine due to the blockade of the Strip.<\/p>\n\n\n[Courtesy of Adam Garfunkel]<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cWe need as businesses to justify our existence and to recognise that all people everywhere deserve to be treated fairly,\u201d Garfunkel told Al Jazeera. \u201cMy family was caught up in the Holocaust. My father was lucky enough to escape with his brother and his parents to the UK. My great grandparents were taken to the woods and shot and buried in a mass grave, and what I\u2019ve taken from that is a strong belief that everyone matters, that everyone has human rights, that persecution on the basis of ethnic identity is always wrong, wherever it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s latest war on Gaza, termed a genocide by leading rights groups, has killed more than 60,000 people in the 22 months since October 7, 2023, when Hamas led an incursion into southern Israel, during which about 1,200 were killed and 250 taken captive \u2013 \u201cgrave crimes under international law\u201d, according to the letter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the Israeli government\u2019s ongoing military campaign amounts to an unrelenting and indefensible assault on civilians, breaching both moral boundaries and the core principles of the Geneva Conventions,\u201d it added.<\/span><\/p>\nPorritt, who counselled King Charles on environmental issues for 30 years when the monarch held the Prince of Wales title and has chaired a sustainable development commission set up by former Prime Minister Tony Blair, said the letter reflects the role of businesses in society at a critical time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just become so much clearer over the course of the last few months that this situation now is completely intolerable. And it constitutes very specifically a genocide against the people of Palestine, of Gaza,\u201d he told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
Businesses are obliged to be supportive in \u201cachieving and maintaining\u201d human rights in the countries in which they\u2019re trading, he said. \u201cThat provides a very strong steer as to why individual business leaders need to get involved at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Porritt has recently made headlines in the British media for his support of Palestine Action<\/span>, a protest group that was proscribed by the UK government weeks ago as a terrorist organisation.<\/p>\nHe was among the more than 500 citizens arrested during an August 9 rally in London, where he raised a banner reading, \u201cI oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.\u201d<\/p>\n
His bail hearing is set for late October.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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