As the US paves the way for $20 billion worth of arms sales to Israel, pressure on the UK to halt such arms sales has intensified amid reports that some sales could be restricted in the coming months.
According to official figures, between October 7, when Israel's war on Gaza began, and the end of May, the United Kingdom granted more than 100 export licences for the sale of arms and military equipment to Israel. The value of these transactions has not been disclosed.
However, between 2008 and the end of 2023, the UK granted arms export licences to Israel worth £576m ($740m). The total value of arms deals granted in 2023 is estimated at £18.2m, still well below the more than £200m granted in 2017.
Pro-Palestinian activists have called on the government to stop selling arms to Israel as its war on Gaza has killed nearly 40,000 people and thousands more are missing and presumed dead under the rubble of buildings. More than 92,000 people have been injured.
Despite this, the previous Conservative government, which lost power to Labour in a landslide election in July, decided in May that there was no reason to suspend arms exports.
He cited UK arms export rules, which state that export licences should not be granted if there is a “clear risk” that they will “facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law (IHL)”, and said there was no evidence of this.
However, since the Labour Party came to power, its stance on the Gaza war has differed from that of its predecessor.
In recent weeks, Israeli and British media have reported that the UK may be on the verge of announcing a partial suspension of arms exports to Israel.
Here's what we know so far:
What does the UK supply to Israel?
The government does not provide military aid to Israel, but issues licences for British companies to sell arms.
Former Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said in December last year, two months after the start of the Gaza war, that UK exports of military goods to Israel were “relatively small”, amounting to £42 million ($53.2 million) in 2022 and £18 million ($22.8 million) in 2023.
By comparison, the US annually gives Israel $3 billion in military aid as part of a 10-year agreement. In November, the US approved an additional $14.5 billion military aid package for Israel after the war in Gaza broke out on October 7.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimates that U.S. exports account for 69 percent of Israel's total arms imports.
In Europe, Germany, the second-largest provider of military aid to Israel after the United States, exported weapons worth 326.5 million euros ($354 million) to Israel in 2023, 10 times more than the previous year.
What types of weapons does the UK sell to Israel?
UK exports include explosive devices, assault rifles and components for F-35 fighter jets.
Research by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) found that the UK produces “at least 15 per cent of the value” of every F-35 fighter jet made in the US.
“This includes crucial elements such as the rear fuselage, targeting lasers, bomb release mechanisms and critical electronic systems,” the UK-based campaign group On X said in late July.
For the 39 F-35s delivered to Israel since 2016, there are “at least £364m worth of British components, not counting spare parts. The aircraft still on order, plus ongoing support, will likely be worth the same again,” the group added.
The F-35 is the clearest way in which UK arms exports are directly implicated in the genocide in Gaza. They could not fly without continued support from the UK, as well as the US. It is essential to end the UK supply of parts for Israeli F-35s, both new and replacement aircraft.
— CAAT (@CAATuk) July 29, 2024
What has the new UK government said about arms exports?
Before the July 4 general election, the then shadow foreign secretary – now Foreign Minister – David Lammy called on the Conservative government to publish the legal advice it had received on granting export licences to Israel.
At the time, the government hit back, saying legal advice to ministers was confidential.
In a recording leaked to Britain's Observer newspaper, Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP and then chair of the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee, told a party fundraiser in late March that government lawyers had found Israel had violated IHL but that the government had not announced the findings.
Following the attack on a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy in Gaza that killed seven aid workers, including three Britons, in April, Kearns told BBC Radio 4 that the UK “has no choice but to suspend arms sales” to Israel.
“Legal advice is purely advisory, so the government can choose to reject it, but UK arms export licences require the recipient to comply with international humanitarian law,” Kearns said.
However, the government at that time had not yet suspended arms exports to Israel.
Since Lammy became foreign secretary following the July election, he has expressed reluctance to implement a blanket ban on arms sales to Israel.
Following his visit to Israel and the occupied West Bank in July, Lammy told the House of Commons, during a motion calling for the immediate suspension of arms export licences to Israel, that Israel was “surrounded by people who would like to see it annihilated”.
“For these reasons, it would not be right for there to be a blanket ban between our country and Israel; it is right for me to consider in the normal way the issues related to offensive weapons in Gaza, following the quasi-judicial process that I have outlined.”
Lammy was also under pressure from other MPs during the 19 July sitting to publish the government's assessment of any breaches of IHL since the Hamas attack on 7 October, which, despite his own previous calls, the Labour government has failed to do.
What do activists and legal experts say?
Following the April attack on the WCK convoy, more than 1,000 retired UK lawyers and judges sent a letter to the government arguing that arms sales to Israel violate international law.
In the letter, the lawyers argued that continued arms exports to Israel “raise concerns about the UK’s compliance with its obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty.”
CAAT, along with advocacy groups Palestine Solidarity Campaign and War on Want, also issued a joint statement saying the delay in halting arms exports to Israel is “unconscionable.”
“The Arms Trade Treaty, to which Britain is a state party, states that a state must not export arms if there is a “potential” that they could be used to commit violations of international human rights or humanitarian law,” the groups said in their statement.
“It is inconceivable that after more than 75 years of Israeli military occupation and apartheid rule, and nearly 10 months of Israel’s genocidal attacks on Palestinians in Gaza… the government’s legal advice has determined that no such risk exists.”
The activists point to the International Court of Justice’s July advisory opinion that member states, including the UK, should “take measures to prevent trade or investment relations that contribute to the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Katie Fallon, director of human rights advocacy at CAAT, told Al Jazeera that the arguments for an “immediate arms embargo have been overwhelming for months”.
“If the Labour Party implements a meaningful suspension of arms exports to Israel, it would be a crucial step towards ending the impunity the international community has granted Israel to commit the most serious violations, including genocide and crimes against humanity, against Palestinians,” he said.
Fallon added that the suspension “must include components for the F-35 aircraft that are dropping bombs on Gaza, including 2,000-pound bombs.”
What changes has the new Labour government made regarding Gaza?
Two weeks after winning the UK general election, the new Labour government announced it would resume funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
Lammy said the UK had pledged £21 million ($27 million) to the agency after previously cutting funding following unsubstantiated Israeli allegations that some UNRWA staff were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Shortly after announcing the resumption of funding, the government also said it was dropping a dispute with the International Criminal Court over whether it has jurisdiction to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
