Publication of the first paper in BADIL’s Complicity Files Series: The Case of the UK

(Bethlehem, 13 October 2026)

BADIL Resource Center for Residency and Refugee Rights releases working paper #34, “Ending Complicity: The Case of the United Kingdom.” From the 1917 Balfour Declaration and the British Mandate through to genocide in Gaza today, the UK’s support for the Israeli regime has always been an integral pillar of its foreign policy. This support has manifested as complicity in an array of crimes, including genocide, apartheid, colonization, forced displacement, and the denial of the Palestinian people’s inalienable rights to self-determination and return. This paper is a non-exhaustive examination of UK complicity in Israeli crimes in Palestine, offering a strategic action plan around which the Palestine solidarity movement in Britain may continue to organise. 

BADIL Resource Center presents The Complicity Files building on working paper #32 (July 2025), Colonial States’ Complicity in Gaza: Arming and Shielding Genocide, which focuses on complicity in genocide and sets out the relevant legal framework. The Complicity Files adopts a broader analytical approach, examining the concrete ways in which states contribute to and sustain the Israeli regime and its unlawful practices - including but not limited to genocide. Rather than limiting the analysis to a single legal qualification or to specific international crimes, each paper in the series focuses on a single state. This file specifically examines the UK’s actions in enabling ongoing Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinian people and what can be done to end its complicity. It is intended as a practical tool for activists, civil society and the solidarity movement more broadly, to challenge, and dismantle complicit and colonial structures. 

The UK’s complicity is significant and multi-faceted, spanning five primary forms: military assistance, political and diplomatic backing, economic support, obstruction of humanitarian and multilateral systems, and the promotion of disinformation and media propaganda. The UK government has refused to even recognise genocide, instead favouring performative gestures including recognition and limited sanctions, thus failing to meet its obligations under international law. Additionally, the UK has played a key role in defunding and demonizing UNRWA and supporting maintenance and entrenchment of colonial “solutions.” 

In the midst of the UK’s blatant complicity, the Palestine solidarity movement in Britain has been steadfast in adopting widespread tactics to demand the UK government hold the Israeli regime accountable and end its colonization of Palestine including: civil disobedience, direct and industrial actions, strategic litigation and electoral pressure, and the imposition of comprehensive sanctions. To sustain this momentum, BADIL calls for five key demands around which the solidarity movement can continue to focus, including targeted actions that can be adopted to achieve these ends. The demand for comprehensive sanctions must remain at the heart of all solidarity actions until such time as the Israeli colonial-apartheid regime is held accountable and dismantled, and the full measure of the Palestinian people’s rights to self-determination and return are fulfilled.

On Thursday, 22 October, at 6 pm London, 8 pm Palestine, BADIL in partnership with Palestinian and solidarity movements, organizations and activists in Britain will hold a webinar to further discuss the findings and action plan within the complicity file on the UK. Join us to work towards more effective and strategic solidarity with the Palestinian people. For additional information subscribe to our email list or email us at [email protected].