UK has ‘duty’ to support Israel, minister says – as row rolls on over arms sales

Published

1 year ago

April 8, 2024

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The UK has a “duty” to support Israel “in her hour of need” despite the killing of three British aid workers in Gaza, a government minister has said.

A row has been raging over whether the UK should continue to sell arms to the country after the incident last week, with questions over whether Israel has breached international law through its actions in the conflict.

Opposition parties and a raft of legal experts have demanded the government publishes the legal advice it has been given on whether sales should continue to ensure the UK is not complicit in any law-breaking activities.

But speaking to Sky News’ Breakfast with Kay Burley, Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said there was “a long convention under governments of all different colours that that advice is not made public”, and there were no plans to publish it.

Follow live: Pressure builds on ministers to publish Israel legal advice

Pushed over whether the government was comfortable supporting Israel after the death of the British aid workers, the minister said: “We are very uncomfortable with what happened. We are appalled with what happened. The prime minister has spoken to the Israeli prime minister about that.

“We are also very uncomfortable about the amount of aid that’s getting into Israel, which is why we’ve been working very hard to increase that.”

He added: “We should be supporting [Israel], particularly in her hour of need… however, that is not an unconditional support.

“We expect Israel not to do the kinds of things that happened with the aid workers. And we have made very clear that we are appalled by what happened there.

“We do expect – and the Americans do, as well as others – that aid will be going into Gaza, where we are beginning to move into a famine situation, which we are very concerned about. So it has [to] be a balanced approach.”

On the legal advice, Mr Stride sort to allay fears by saying the UK had “robust processes” in place to make sure the law was being followed, and it was being “constantly reviewed”.

But while he would not commit to publishing the advice, he said: “As things stand right at this particular moment in time, the advice… is that there shouldn’t be any change in the current arrangements.”

Shadow health minister Abena Oppong-Asare reiterated Labour’s call to see the legal advice, telling Kay Burley: “I think it is really concerning and we really need to see the guidance, the legal advice that has been given to the foreign secretary.

“It needs to be published so that if it says that selling arms is a breach of international human rights law then we really need to look at making sure action is taken to suspend it.”

Sunday marked six months since the attacks in Israel by Hamas that sparked the conflict and saw 1,200 people killed. There are still 129 hostages unaccounted for, with at least 34 presumed dead.

Since then, more than 33,000 people have been killed in Gaza and over 75,000 injured, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

Politics

Bangladesh issues arrest warrant for Tulip Siddiq – as she denies claims against her

Published

4 hours ago

April 13, 2025

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Bangladesh issues arrest warrant for Tulip Siddiq - as she denies claims against her

Anti-corruption authorities in Bangladesh have issued a warrant for the arrest of British Labour MP Tulip Siddiq.

Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) sought the warrant over allegations Ms Siddiq received a 7,200sq ft plot of land in the country’s capital, Dhaka.

Ms Siddiq’s lawyers have told Sky News the allegations are “completely false”, adding there was “no basis at all for any charges to be made against her”.

They said there was “absolutely no truth” behind the allegations regarding the plot of land.

The MP resigned as a Treasury minister earlier this year following an investigation by the prime minister’s ethics adviser into her links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina’s regime, which was overthrown in Bangladesh last year.

Earlier this month, Ms Siddiq told Sky News her lawyers were “ready” to handle any formal questions about allegations of corruption in Bangladesh.

In her first public comments since leaving government, Ms Siddiq said “there’s been allegations for months on end and no one has contacted me”.

Last month, the interim leader of Bangladesh told Sky News the MP had “wealth left behind” in the country “and should be made responsible”.

Lawyers acting for Ms Siddiq wrote to the Bangladeshi Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) several weeks ago saying the allegations were “false and vexatious”.

The allegations surrounding Ms Siddiq are focused on links to her aunt Ms Hasina – who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh for 20 years.

Ms Hasina was forced to flee the country in August following weeks of deadly protests.

She is accused of becoming an autocrat, with politically-motivated arrests and other abuses allegedly happening on her watch. Ms Hasina claims it is all a political witch hunt.

Ms Siddiq’s lawyer said in a statement that she “has not been contacted by the ACC or any authorities in Bangladesh”.

“The ACC has made various allegations against Ms Siddiq through the media in the last few months,” they said.

“The allegations are completely false and have been dealt with in writing by Ms Siddiq’s lawyers. The ACC has not responded to Ms Siddiq or put any allegations to her directly or through her lawyers.

“Ms Siddiq knows nothing about a hearing in Dhaka relating to her and she has no knowledge of any arrest warrant that is said to have been issued.

“To be clear, there is no basis at all for any charges to be made against her, and there is absolutely no truth in any allegation that she received a plot of land in Dhaka through illegal means.

“She has never had a plot of land in Bangladesh, and she has never influenced any allocation of plots of land to her family members or anyone else.

“No evidence has been provided by the ACC to support this or any other allegation made against Ms Siddiq, and it is clear to us that the charges are politically motivated.”

Politics

Senator Tim Scott is confident market structure bill passed by August

Published

21 hours ago

April 12, 2025

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Senator Tim Scott is confident market structure bill passed by August

Senator Tim Scott, the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, recently said that he expects a crypto market bill to be passed into law by August 2025.

The chairman also noted the Senate Banking Committee’s advancement of the GENIUS Act, a comprehensive stablecoin regulatory bill, in March 2025, as evidence that the committee prioritizes crypto policy. In a statement to Fox News, Scott said:

“We must innovate before we regulate — allowing innovation in the digital asset space to happen here at home is critical to American economic dominance across the globe.”

Scott’s timeline for a crypto market structure bill lines up with expectations from Kristin Smith, CEO of the crypto industry advocacy group Blockchain Association, of market structure and stablecoin legislation being passed into law by August.

The Trump administration has emphasized that comprehensive crypto regulations are central to its plans for protecting the value of the US dollar and establishing the country as a global leader in digital assets by attracting investment into US-based crypto firms.

US Government, United States, Stablecoin — *Senator Tim Scott highlights the Senate Banking Committee’s goals and accomplishments in 2025. Source:* *Fox News*

Support for comprehensive crypto regulations is bipartisan

US lawmakers and officials expect clear crypto policies to be established and signed into law sometime in 2025 with bipartisan support from Congress.

Speaking at the Digital Assets Summit in New York City, on March 18, Democrat Representative Ro Khanna said he expects both the market structure and stablecoin bills to pass this year.

The Democrat lawmaker added that there are about 70-80 other representatives in the party who understand the importance of passing clear digital asset regulations in the United States.

Khanna emphasized that fellow Democrats support dollar-pegged stablecoins due to the role of dollar tokens in expanding demand for the US dollar worldwide through the internet.

Bo Hines, the executive director of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets, also spoke at the conference and predicted that stablecoin legislation would be passed into law within 60 days.

Hines highlighted that establishing US dominance in the digital asset space is a goal with widespread bipartisan support in Washington DC.

Magazine: How crypto laws are changing across the world in 2025

Politics

US Social Security moves public comms to X amid DOGE-led job cuts — Report

Published

23 hours ago

April 12, 2025

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US Social Security moves public comms to X amid DOGE-led job cuts — Report

The US Social Security Administration (SSA) will move all public communications to the X social media platform amid sweeping workforce cuts recommended by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by X owner Elon Musk.

According to anonymous sources who spoke with WIRED, the government agency will no longer issue its customary letters and press releases to communicate changes to the public, instead relying on X as its primary form of public-facing communication.

The shift comes as the SSA downsizes its workforce from 57,000 employees to roughly 50,000 to reduce costs and improve operational efficiency. The agency issued this statement in February 2025:

“SSA has operated with a regional structure consisting of 10 offices, which is no longer sustainable. The agency will reduce the regional structure in all agency components down to four regions. The organizational structure at Headquarters also is outdated and inefficient.”

Elon Musk, the head of DOGE, has accused the Social Security system of distributing billions of dollars in wrongful payments, a claim echoed by the White House. Musk’s comments sparked intense debate about the future of the retirement program and sustainable government spending.

US Government, United States, Elon Musk — *Source:* *Elon Musk*

DOGE targets US government agencies in efficiency push

The Department of Government Efficiency is an unofficial government agency tasked with identifying and curbing allegedly wasteful public spending through budget and personnel cuts.

In March, DOGE began probing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and gained access to its internal systems, including data repositories.

SEC officials signaled their cooperation with DOGE and said the regulatory agency would work closely with it to provide any relevant information requested.

DOGE also proposed slashing the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) workforce by 20%. The workforce reduction could impact up to 6,800 IRS employees and be implemented by May 15 — exactly one month after 2024 federal taxes are due.

Musk’s and the DOGE’s proposals for sweeping spending cuts are not limited to slashing budgets and reducing the size of the federal workforce.

DOGE is reportedly exploring blockchain to curb public spending by placing the entire government budget onchain to promote accountability and transparency.

Magazine: Elon Musk’s plan to run government on blockchain faces uphill battle