Israel is committing war crimes - former Supreme Court judge Jonathan Sumption exclusive interview
The New Statesman | UK politics and culture
The New Statesman
4.4 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 16 July 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
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Summary
Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, served on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2018.
He has written a powerful and sobering essay for the New Statesman in which he argues that Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza.
In this exclusive interview, Tom McTague meets Jonathan Sumption to discuss why he has come to this conclusion now, and what it means for the international community.
Read Jonathan Sumption's essay here: https://www.newstatesman.com/world/middle-east/2025/07/a-question-of-intent
Listen to more from the New Statesman: Jake Richards MP on why he believes the ECHR needs reform
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The weather. Tomorrow, expect a biting cold front. Hmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be |
| 0:06.8 | wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain |
| 0:13.0 | that'll soak you to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching |
| 0:18.7 | their peak in the afternoon. |
| 0:23.0 | Not in the mood for miserable weather. |
| 0:25.8 | Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express. |
| 0:28.7 | Sun Express, non-stop sunshine. |
| 0:34.2 | The New Statesman. |
| 0:42.0 | Hello and welcome to the New Statesman podcast. I'm Tom McTagg. My guest today is an eminent historian and judge who served on the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom between 2012 and |
| 0:46.8 | 2018. This week's magazine, he's written a powerful and sobering essay arguing that Israel's |
| 0:53.1 | actions in Gaza amount to war crimes. |
| 0:56.2 | Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption, welcome to the New Statesman podcast. |
| 1:00.3 | I want to get into the article that you have written for us this week's cover story in a |
| 1:07.2 | second, but I thought I'd give readers a sense of how so seriously we've taken this subject, |
| 1:12.4 | and you and I have been back and forth on this, speaking by telephone and by emails, |
| 1:18.5 | trying to ensure that we're treating this story with the seriousness that it deserves. |
| 1:23.6 | And you have from the beginning, and we both, I think, think that it is important that we are |
| 1:29.8 | able to sort of speak freely and clearly without fear or favor about something that is probably |
| 1:37.1 | the most important question today in world affairs. |
| 1:41.2 | Yes, I agree with that, all of that. |
| 1:43.2 | Good. |
| 1:43.7 | And I want you to help explain to the listeners how you came to the conclusions that you did, |
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