Ten British nationals have been accused of committing war crimes while serving in the Israeli army in Gaza. They are accused of crimes including murder, extermination, attacking civilians, and the deportation or forcible transfer of a population. A team of legal experts, including prominent human rights lawyer Michael Mansfield, have submitted a dossier to the Metropolitan Police war-crimes team on behalf of the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), which is based in Britain.

The Foreign Office recognises the right of British dual nationals to serve in the legitimately recognised armed forces of the country of their other nationality. But they add “those fighting for Israel must operate within the bounds of International Humanitarian Law”.

Mansfield says: “If one of our nationals is committing an offence, we ought to be doing something about it. Even if we can’t stop the government of foreign countries behaving badly, we can at least stop our nationals from behaving badly. British nationals are under a legal obligation not to collude with crimes committed in Palestine. No one is above the law.” Let’s hope the Met think the same.