No UK arms for Israel
Since 2015, the UK government has allowed at least £474 million worth of weapons and military equipment to be sold to Israel, from UK companies — including components for F-35 warplanes, tanks, missiles, guns and ammunition.
Israel is using warplanes and missiles to bomb Palestinian refugee camps, schools, hospitals, shelters, blocks of flats, evacuating civilians, ambulances, foreign journalists, and aid workers across the Gaza Strip. These are clear breaches of international law and likely amount to war crimes. Since 7 October 2023, more than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel. During this time, the UK failed to stop sending weapons and military technology to Israel.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, announced to parliament on 2 September 2024, that, following a review of UK arms exports to Israel: "there does exist a clear risk that [certain UK-made weaponry] might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law".
Despite this, the UK government has only suspended 30 out of 350 licences. Crucially, the government has not suspended licences for F-35 fighter jet components: an F-35 plane was used by Israel in an attack on Al-Mawasi in the Gaza Strip, killing 90 Palestinians and injuring at least 300.
The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has applied for arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister and Defence Minister for war crimes. The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel’s actions are plausibly genocide, has condemned Israel’s occupation of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) as unlawful – and stated that Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people amounts to apartheid.
Nothing short of an end to all UK-made weaponry and military technology being transferred to Israel will remove the risk of UK arms being used by Israel to commit violations against the Palestinian people. The UK government must immediately end the UK arms trade with Israel and ensure it is not complicit in what are likely to amount to war crimes.
