The Legacy of Empire. Britain. Then and Now

EUROPE, 2 Jun 2025

Daniel Horgan - TRANSCEND Media Service

Laudabiliter was a Papal Bull issued in 1155 by Pope Adrian IV.  Pope Adrian, born in England, was the only Pope, until now with current Pope Leo, to be born in an English speaking country.

The Papal Bull was directed to The King of England Henry II to invade Ireland, and take control of the governance and reform in the name of the Catholic Church.

Laudabiliter is latin for ‘praiseworthy’. The Papal Bull read: “as a true Catholic prince should, to enlarge the boundaries of the Church, to reveal the truth of the Christian faith to peoples still untaught and barbarous (The Irish); and to root out the weeds of vice from the Lord’s field;”

Many such Papal Bulls would follow from the Vatican for England and other colonial powers, to “vanquish, subdue, and enslave” many peoples of the globe.

At the height of the British Empire, in the early 1900s, nearly a quarter of the world’s land and population was encompassed in its grasp.  With this backdrop, in 1919, the Zionist movement came to a head in England.  With a strange but practical mix of Zionism,  Anti-Semetism, and Anti-Arab sentiment behind it, the Balfour Declaration established Palestine as a British Protectorate.  The influx of Jewish settlers into the region began.  Just as Ireland, eight centuries before, thus also began the violation of the Inherent Sovereignty of Arab Palestine.

In 1948 the colonial powers of the West, through the authority of the post-WWII-created United Nations, created the State of Israel.  A further violation of Arab Palestine’s Inherent Sovereignty.  War ensued with many refugees from their homes landing in The Gaza Strip. Descendents of those refugees still represent 80% of the population in the Gaza Strip.  Israel has outlawed UNRWA in an attempt, largely to debase these refugee claims to their homes.  Of course today, Gaza is under siege in what has been undeniably the world’s most publicized ‘live’ genocide.

Less than two months into the conflict, towards the end of 2023, UNICEF called the Gaza Strip, “The most dangerous place on earth to be a child.”  WCNSF-Wounded Child with No Surviving Family was a new medical term created.  The first of its kind, it was unforeseen in the history of human medicine.  The UN Chief added that, “Gaza was becoming a graveyard for children.”

The United Nations also invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter.  Article 99 allows the Secretary-General to “bring to the attention of the Security Council any matter which in his opinion may threaten the maintenance of international peace and security.” For reference to the significance of this news, Article 99 had not been invoked since 1989, and has formally been invoked only three times since 1960.

The calls for a ceasefire in Gaza have been supported by almost all countries in the world.  The most recent United Nations General Assembly vote on Gaza occurred on December 11, 2024, during the Assembly’s 10th emergency special session. 158 voted in favor, only 9 against, with Britain and many European countries, save Spain, abstaining  (Ireland voted in favor.)

The International Court of Justice is hearing the case for Genocide in Gaza brought by South Africa.  The ICJ has already declared that there is a “plausible risk of genocide”.  Over 50 nations have actively contributed or publicly expressed support for the case.

The International Criminal Court, for its part, has as of last year, issued warrants for the arrest of leaders of Israel and Hamas for War Crimes.

Blockades of humanitarian aid have been a regular part of the conflict since Oct. 7th, 2023.  Earlier this year, on March 2, 2025 the largest and longest running humanitarian blockade was imposed.  Israel halted all humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, including food, medical supplies, fuel, and tents.  If there were any doubts of ‘genocide’ by anyone there certainly isn’t now.

The World Health Organization reports that, since the aid blockade began on March 2nd many children have reportedly died from the effects of malnutrition.

“We do not need to wait for a declaration of famine in Gaza to know that people are already starving, sick and dying, while food and medicines are minutes away across the border,” said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom. “Today’s report shows that without immediate access to food and essential supplies, the situation will continue to deteriorate, causing more deaths and descent into famine.”

Three quarters of Gaza’s population are at “Emergency” or “Catastrophic” food deprivation, the worst two levels of The Integrated Phase Food Security Classifications five level scale of food insecurity and nutritional deprivation.

Britain for its part still hasn’t been willing to publicly call the situation ‘genocide’.  Instead  Britain’s Prime Minister, Keir Starmer has most recently said that “It is a really serious, unacceptable, intolerable situation’ .  This should come as no surprise considering Britain’s past colonial legacy in Palestine, and its current arming of Israel with over 125 million £s  of military (and non-military) exports to Israel, since Oct 7th, 2023. Many of which are weapons of war.

In a positive development there was a statement released on May 19th, by the British Prime Minister, French President and Canadian Prime Minister, that spoke out to oppose settlement expansions in the Israeli occupied West Bank. Settler violence has surged in the West Bank as the world’s focus has remained on Gaza. Nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands displaced in Israeli raids in the West Bank.

Also, Britain this past week, announced the suspension of trade talks with Israel, and imposed sanctions on three individuals and four entities involved in the settler movement, and further said that Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions in Gaza were “wholly disproportionate” and “utterly counterproductive”.

Nevertheless the siege on Gaza continues with a new development in Britain surfacing.  In an open letter signed by more than 800 British lawyers, academics, and former judges, there is a fresh demand for sanctions of Israel over the situation in Gaza. Sanctions called for by the letter say they are necessary to meet legal obligations under international law:

“All states, including Britain, are legally obliged to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent and punish genocide, to ensure respect for international humanitarian law and to bring to an end violations of [the right to self-determination; i.e. Inherent Sovereignty],”

“Britain’s actions to date have failed to meet those standards.

“The international community’s failure to uphold international law in relation to the occupied Palestinian territory contributes to a deteriorating international climate of lawlessness and impunity and imperils the international legal system itself.

“Your government must act now, before it is too late.”

Many will argue, and rightfully so, that it is already too late.  Now standing in the cosmic scope of time, nine centuries after the invasion of Ireland, what has the British Empire learned?  One might argue that the only thing it has learned is the ability to ‘look like it cares’.

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Daniel Horgan is a graduate of The European Center for Peace Studies. He has worked in the area of Unarmed Civilian Protection and Human Rights Monitoring in Sri Lanka and Kenya.  In Sri Lanka he worked with a team that contributed to data collection to report to the IRC Ceasefire Monitoring Mission. He created this factual video at the outbreak of the first major war in 2007 between Israel and Hamas: Israel/Palestine 2007– YouTube

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 2 Jun 2025.

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