news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

britain to immediately suspend 30 of around 350 arms export licences to israel

according to the bbc report on september 2, the uk has suspended the sale of some weapons and equipment to israel, citing the "clear risk" that they could be used to commit serious violations of international law. israeli officials said the move was "deeply disappointing."

british foreign secretary lamy announced in a speech to the house of commons that day that britain would immediately suspend issuing 30 of the approximately 350 arms export licenses to israel, including weapons and equipment such as fighter jets, helicopters and drone parts. he also said that britain continued to support israel's right to self-defense and that the latest move was not equivalent to an arms embargo.

lamy said that many british mps, lawyers and international organizations have expressed concerns about britain's arms exports to israel. after the labour government came to power in july, he immediately ordered a review of britain's arms export policy. however, he said that the review did not "and could not make a judgment on whether israel had violated international humanitarian law", that is, this move "is not a judgment of innocence or guilt".

he said the british government had a legal responsibility to review all export licenses. "based on the assessments i have received, i can only conclude that there is a clear risk that certain weapons exported by the uk to israel could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law." he said some of the banned items involved equipment that "could be used in the ongoing conflict in gaza."

however, the bbc reported that british-made parts used in israel's f-35 fighter jets for bombing targets in the gaza strip are not included in the ban. this move has more political significance than military significance, because the scale of british arms sales to israel is very small, accounting for only 1% of israel's total military procurement imports.

according to reports, amichai chikli, the israeli minister of expatriate affairs, said in an interview that the british move sent the "wrong message" and was "disappointing", and that the decision was made at "a very sensitive moment", when the israeli army found the bodies of six detainees in an underground tunnel in the southern gaza strip city of rafah. he said, "i think we need to fight terrorism together... the threat from the palestinian islamic resistance movement (hamas) is also the internal threat you face on the streets of the uk." in response, israeli foreign minister katz insisted that israel abided by international law.

sacha deshmukh, chief executive of the uk branch of western human rights organization amnesty international, criticized the ban as "too limited and full of loopholes." he said: "today's decision means that while ministers have apparently acknowledged that israel may be committing war crimes in gaza, the (british) government is still running the risk of becoming an accomplice of the israeli army in committing war crimes, apartheid and possibly genocide in gaza."

the bbc reported that some british labour mps urged prime minister starmer to go further and completely ban the uk from selling weapons to israel. layla moran, a member of the british opposition liberal democratic party, said her party would "carefully review" the details of the announcement, "including those export licenses that the government has not yet suspended." she said: "we are concerned that this decision is based solely on the risk of (british weapons) being used in gaza, and not in the west bank."

ellie chowns, a member of the green party, questioned why so many licenses were still not included in the ban. she said: "i am very concerned that the government has not consistently followed its principles - the british weapons that are still allowed to be exported are clearly at risk of being used in violation of international humanitarian law."