Britain partially suspends arms sales to Israel

David Lammy has announced that Britain is suspending thirty arms export licenses to Israel. The UK foreign secretary told the House of Commons that after a review of international humanitarian law, he was left with no choice but to conclude that there was a risk of a number of weapons being used to commit or facilitate the violation of the law. He said:

It is with regret that I inform the House today that the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. I have informed my right honorable friend the business and trade secretary and he is therefore today announcing the suspension of around thirty from a total of approximately 350 to Israel as required under the Export Controls Act.

He said the government would also publish the assessment. But Lammy was at pains to claim the UK was not turning its back on Israel. “This is not a blanket ban, this is not an arms embargo,” he said, pointing out that it targets just thirty out of 350 licenses which covers items which might be used to break international humanitarian law. Lammy also insisted that the UK continued to support Israel’s right to self-defense in line with international law and would continue to work with Israel to counter threats against it. But he was clear that Israel could be doing more to ensure humanitarian aid reached Gaza. 

This announcement is not a huge surprise, given Lammy’s regular interventions from opposition on whether the Conservative government’s legal advice suggested there had been a breach of international law. Labour had been pressing the Tories to publish that legal advice, and Lammy commissioned a review of it on entering the Foreign Office. While the Conservatives had resisted these demands on arms licenses, they had also moved their position on the conflict from insisting Israel had the right to do whatever it needed to defend itself to then saying regularly that too many civilians had died. Andrew Mitchell, now the shadow foreign secretary, had been instrumental in that shift. With Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration under increased pressure at home to reach a ceasefire, there is a big shift underway overall.

This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.