A slight turn up for the books

Well, credit where credit is due . .  The government has seriously upset the chief rabbi  with its partial ban on arms sales to Israel. This comes after the Attorney General sought to clarify precisely which weapons systems could potentially be used in breach of international law. That I suspect is no easy task. One might have to ask the IDF what they did with the stuff, and knowing the IDF they would respond by saying ‘we’ll have an inquiry’ the results of which would be lost in the mists of time. Still, this is the third time the new government has been seen to have taken a decision unfavourable to Israel. What’s going on? Do ministers really fear being exposed to charges of supporting genocide? Is this partial arms ban a pre-emptive exculpatory move? The Israel lobby may be revising its cosy relationship with Starmer & Co. at this rate. In itself the decision will probably have no impact on the ground in Gaza, but it could send a signal to other arms supplying governments to review their own stance. With one exception of course, the one that supplies military aid worth $3 billion annually to Netanyahu’s genocidal regime. As regards the chief rabbi, he is a man of god and he’ll have an opportunity the next time he presents the BBC ‘Thought for the Day’ slot on the Today programme to tell us why genocide is such a good thing.