STATEMENT ON THE UK DROPPING ISRAEL ARREST WARRANT CHALLENGE

For immediate release - 26 July 2024

In the past few hours, the Government of the United Kingdom has changed its stance on a past ruling by International Criminal Court (ICC), who issued an arrest warrant for the incumbent Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, among other top Israeli officials and those of Hamas.

Another World Belfast would like to dually welcome this decision and ,in extending a hand of solidarity to the Palestinian people, echo the calls by the Stop the War Coalition, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and others, to push the British Foreign Secretary to halt all arms sales to Israel, so as to end the slaughter of innocent Palestinian children, men, women, and others.

As a queer organisation, run for, and by queer people, it is not only our right, but our duty to call out and condemn injustice. In Netanyahu’s speech to congress, the Prime Minister likened queer people that supported peace for Palestine as ‘chickens for KFC’. Not only is the comment abhorrent, but the sentiment underlying its prejudice is manifestly false. There are many gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and otherwise queer people living in the Palestinian territories, and to make such a baseless and deceptive comment based on false premises of the people of Palestine is vile, racist, and dehumanising slander. If the Israeli Prime Minister really cared about the queer community, he would immediately halt the ongoing onslaught of our brothers and sisters in the Gaza Strip.

History will undoubtedly show that our collective resolve, our solidarity, and our voice for an end to injustice in whatever form it takes, will be judged as the only means by which our wish for a world of peace and justice may be achieved.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal, leading an apartheid state with genocidal intent. We commend this statement in solidarity with our Palestinian friends.

STATEMENT ON THE TWO-CHILD BENEFIT LIMIT

18 July 2024

As a registered charity that contributes to the ending of poverty in all forms, and especially that among children, SHOWSOMELOVE Belfast is disappointed to learn that the newly elected government has failed to include in its policy program the ending of the two-child benefit limit. This policy was introduced as part of the previous government’s austerity program to prevent families from receiving financial support from their third child onward. This means that families with three children or more are struggling to make ends meet. SHOWSOMELOVE supports the removal of this measure so that families that are experiencing financial hardship with the cost of living crisis.

We believe that all children, regardless of background, creed, or postcode, should be entitled to adequate shelter, nutrition, and education. If parents or guardians cannot aff ord the necessary provisions that allow their children to sleep in a warm home, eat at least three meals a day, and aff ord the costs associated with schooling, a child’s future, and role in society is threatened. There are an estimated 4,000,000 children living in poverty in the United Kingdom alone, and we believe that, given the country’s position being the sixth largest economy in the world, it is not acceptable for the next generation to suffer in this way.

The Child Poverty Action Group estimates the cost to remove the two-child benefit cap is £1.7 billion per year. Such an action is predicted to take approximately 300,000 children out of poverty, which will be a huge step forward in reducing the strain on struggling families. The new government claims that fiscal constraints prevent them from taking immediate action on child poverty, and will instead launch a new taskforce to ‘investigate’ the issue. It is our opinion that this investigation will only prolong the suffering of so many struggling parents and children. SHOWSOMELOVE supports the immediate removal of this limit and the recent action taken by other charities, organisations, and MPs whose values align with ours