Will the UK stop selling arms to Israel?
Pressure has been mounting on the British government to suspend arms sales to Israel throughout the Gaza war.
In March, the UK government was advised by its lawyers that Israel was violating international law in Gaza, but failed to announce it publicly. Calls to suspend arms sales grew even louder after Israel killed seven NGO workersÌęin April, three of whom were British citizens.
Following the incident, more than 600 British jurists, including three retired judges, addressed an open letter to then Conservative prime minister Rishi Sunak saying the UK would be violating international law if weapons sales continued. No action, however, was taken.
Since Labour came to power debate around the issue has continued, with the UK Foreign Office ordering a review of Israelâs use of British weapons in alleged war crimes in Gaza. The legal advice received by the Conservative government on arms sales to Israel has still not been published.
Last week, it was that the decision to ban exports may be delayed until later this summer as the government determines which specific arms can be linked to suspected war crimes in the ongoing Israeli war. Reports saying the processing of arms export licences for sales toÌęIsraelÌęhad been suspended pending the governmentâs review added further ambiguity.
The Department for Business and Trade spokesperson responded by saying "there has been no change to our approach to export licences to Israel".Ìę
Talking to °źÂț”ș, Anna Stavrianakis, professor of international relations at the University of Sussex, said she was very sceptical about Foreign Secretary David Lammyâs claim that he doesnât have access to the previous governmentâs legal advice.
âLegal advice should be the property of the department [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office]. It should be available from one government to the next one,â said the professor, whose research focuses on UK arms export policy and arms transfer control.
David Lammy is believed to be preparing to ban the sale of âoffensiveâ weapons while ruling out a blanket arms embargo, stressing Israelâs need to defend itself. âIt would not be right to have a blanket ban between our countries and Israel,â Lammy said in a Commons debate two weeks ago.
But the distinction between supplying weapons for offensive and defensive purposes is irrelevant, legal experts say.
âThe law doesnât distinguish between offensive and defensive weapons,â Yasmine Ahmed, UK director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), has , while reiterating that the UK government cannot licence military equipment if there is a clear risk that it might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law.
While still in opposition, Lammy had pressed his predecessor David Cameron to publish the official advice on the legality of exporting weapons to Israel. He said earlier this year that the then Conservative government should suspend the sale of weapons if they risked being used for war crimes. Ìę
âWe cannot have a foreign secretary dodging scrutiny on arms sales, which is a matter of enormous legal and diplomatic importance,â the then shadow foreign secretary Lord Cameron.
Now in government, Lammy is under pressure from Labour backbenchers to stop selling arms to Israel. Top human rights lawyer, Professor Philippe Sands KC, has urged for the UK to comply with the recent from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which found that Israelâs 57-year-old occupation of the Palestinian territories is illegal and should come to an end. Ìę
Sands, a member of Palestineâs legal team for the ICJ case, The Guardian that the UK should stop arming Israel in light of the courtâs advisory opinion that member states should not ârender aid or assistance in maintaining Israelâs illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territories".
Andrew Feinstein, a London-based activist and author of âThe Shadow World, which investigates corruption in the globalÌęarmsÌętrade, told TNA that Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in a very tricky position. âThe main donors backing his Labour party in the lead-up to the 4 July election are pro-Israel billionaires, which makes his political room for manoeuvre [on Gaza] almost non-existent.â
The landmark ICJ judgement puts Britainâs compliance with international law to the test - either it stops licensing weapons to Israel or continues to trade arms with it and is complicit in grave violations of humanitarian law.
âThe UK governmentâs delay in making a decision on whether to stop arms exports to Israel is unconscionable,â a by Campaign Against Arms Trade, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and War on Want said last week.
âIt is at total odds with Britainâs clear moral and legal responsibility not to render aid and assistance to Israelâs genocide in the Gaza Strip, its unlawful military occupation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem, and its regime of apartheid against all Palestinians.â
Chris Doyle, a commentator on the Middle EastÌęand director of CAABUÌę(Council for Arab-British Understanding), told TNA that imposing an arms ban or at least restricting the sale of arms would send a âvery strong signalâ that Israeli actions are unacceptable, calling it a âtest caseâ for the UK.
"They will try to manoeuvre their way toward a position that looks like they're complying with international law while allowing exports to continue"
âBritain has to bring itself in a situation where in no way it is complicit with an illegal occupation,â CAABUâs director insisted.
âItâs political smoke and mirrors. Theyâre trying to give the impression theyâre going to halt weapons sales, but they actually have little or no intention of doing it,â Feinstein said, questioning the UK governmentâs willingness to take effective action vis-Ă -vis its first-tier ally.
Though British military exports to Israel were worth only ÂŁ18.2 million ($23.4 million) last year, the possibility of imposing an export ban is alarming for an increasingly isolated Tel Aviv, with London remaining one of its closest allies in Europe.
The UKâs arms trade with Israel includes components for F-35 fighter jets, co-produced by Britain with the US, which are thought to have been used by the Israeli army in the bombardment of Gaza.
Ending the sale of F-35 parts could threaten the UKâs participation in the construction of fighter jets and compromise its relations with both Tel Aviv and Washington.
âAny meaningful application of UK arms export rules would mean that you donât allow the export of parts for F-35s,â Stavrianakis said, arguing against any assertion that the military planes might be used defensively. To her mind, given the âscaleâ and âcharacterâ of the Israeli assault on Gaza, Britainâs arms transfers should be at least severely restricted.
Citing her examining the last 20 years of UK weapons export policy during armed conflicts, she indicated that British governments have, in fact, not suspended existing arms export licenses but only mainly paused granting new licenses, even in the face of violations of human rights and humanitarian law.
The arms trade expert foresees that the UK will likely opt for a minimal freeze on the sale of weapons to Israel. âThey will try to manoeuvre their way toward a position that looks like theyâre complying with international law while allowing exports to continue,â she anticipated.
Sharing similar thoughts, Feinstein asserted that halting the shipment of F-35 parts would be an impactful move, though he thinks the British cabinet will only restrict some very minor arms deliveries.
âThere are no real arms export controls. Arms manufacturers flout laws and supply whoever they want,â the anti-war campaigner said. âWeâve seen it every single day throughout the genocide in Gaza.â
Doyle noted that Starmerâs government will have to work hard to prove that it is concerned about international law and accountability. He pointed to a released in April that found over half of the British public supported a ban on the export of arms and spare parts to Israel.
âWeâve seen some baby steps, but we need to see some much bigger steps to demonstrate this has real meaning.â
Alessandra Bajec is a freelance journalist currently based in Tunis.
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