Trial of Hastings Three adjourned

The Hastings Three appeared at Hastings Magistrates Court this morning (27 August) to stand trial for ‘aggravated trespass’, following a peaceful protest at General Dynamics’ arms factory in St Leonards on 29 February 2024 over the companies’ complicity with Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Gabriel Carlyle reports for HOT.

According to the American Friends Service Committee: ‘General Dynamics supplies the Israeli military with a wide variety of weapons, including various bombs. The company’s technologies are also integrated into Israel’s main weapon systems, including fighter jets and armored combat vehicles … For years, these weapons have repeatedly been used against Palestinian civilians, resulting in numerous casualties as well as mass destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and water and electric systems.’

In January the International Court of Justice ruled that there was a plausible case that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza.

On 12 February a Dutch court ordered a halt to the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, ruling there was a ‘clear risk’ that the parts would be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law, as ‘there are many indications that Israel has violated the humanitarian law of war in a not insignificant number of cases’.

And on 23 February a group of UN experts issued a statement that ‘Any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law and must cease immediately’.

Case adjourned

A large number of local residents showed up this morning to support the three.

However, it turned out that:

(a) the police had delayed providing the defence with some of their video footage;

(b) the prosecution had only seen the defence’s 25-page skeleton argument that morning;

and

(c) everyone involved seemed to agree that the case (which involves certain legal technicalities) would be better heard by a district judge, rather than the three non-stipendiary magistrates to whom it had been assigned.

Consequently, the case was adjourned, with a new trial date set. of 22 January in Brighton.

Labour fiddles, Gaza burns

Meanwhile, as the new Labour government continues to fiddle, Gaza continues to burn.

Last Friday, on Labour’s 50th day in office Campaign Against Arms Trade issued a statement condemning ‘the government’s failure to suspend export licences for arms transfers to Israel’:

‘Every day that this government fails to take action, the UK is materially and politically supporting Israel’s genocide against Palestinians …

‘In this past week alone, massacres have been committed by Israel through airstrikes on schools and tent encampments sheltering displaced civilians and on one of the last functioning markets, a site essential for civilian survival, in Deir al-Balah. Such scenes, of intolerable suffering and inhumanity, are ensured by each day of governmental inaction…

‘Under UK law, the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria states that export licences should not be issued if there is a “clear risk” arms exports might be used in a “serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

‘Given the overwhelming evidence of the most egregious violations of international law, including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, it is implausible that the government’s review has not yet reach a conclusion, as Palestinians continue to be slaughtered.’

Hastings & District Palestine Solidarity Campaign: www.hastingspalestinecampaign.org

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