"Tanker carrying jet fuel for Israel must not dock in Gibraltar, say MPs", July 29 2024

There is an overwhelming case for the UK to intervene to stop a US oil tanker carrying 300,000 barrels of jet fuel for use by Israel in Gaza from docking in Gibraltar, according to a letter from a cross-party group of MPs addressed to David Lammy, the UK foreign secretary.

Protests in Spain led by trade unionists and political activists have already resulted in the owners of the Overseas Santorini abandoning plans to dock in the Spanish port of Algeciras. According to Marine Traffic, the ship is now destined to reach Gibraltar at 3pm UK time on Tuesday.

The Gibraltar government, however, insisted it had received no formal request to dock.

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Campaigners said the Overseas Santorini was carrying military-grade JP-8 fuel, delivered as part of a contract with the US government, that powers F-16 fighter jets. According to a UN investigation, it was probably an F-16, which are built using UK parts, that bombed British doctors from Medical Aid for Palestinians at a compound in Gaza in January.

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The call to block the shipment came from a large coalition of groups, including the Progressive International, Global Energy Embargo for Palestine, Disrupt Power, the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, Valero Out of Corpus, the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature, BDS and Gibraltar for Palestine. They are operating under the banner “No Harbour for Genocide”.

The campaign’s pressure led to the port-worker unions UGT and CCOO backing it, and Spanish politicians – including the current and former Podemos leaders Ione Belarra and Pablo Iglesias, as well as Sumar, the junior coalition party in government – denouncing the planned docking of the Overseas Santorini.

In a statement on Sunday, the Gibraltar government said the US-flagged tanker has not requested to dock in Gibraltar or use any of its port services.

In May, the Spanish foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said Spain will not authorise ships carrying weapons for Israel to call at its ports after the country refused to let a ship call at the south-eastern port of Cartagena.

The UN human rights council passed a resolution in April expressing concern about the use of jet fuel in Gaza.

The campaigners said the oil is being shipped by the Valero company from Corpus Christi, Texas and is aimed to reach the port of Ashkelon in Israel ...

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