The new UK government has decided to take a controversial decision aimed at calming the waters within the Labour Party, which have been in turmoil for months due to the lukewarm response of Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the Israeli attacks on Gaza. Foreign Minister David Lammy announced in Parliament on Monday the suspension of 30 arms export licences to Israel, an initiative that threatens to strain relations between London and Washington.
Over the past two months, a Foreign Office team has been conducting an exhaustive review of the way Netanyahu’s government was conducting its war effort, with suspicions that British weapons were being used in operations in Gaza that could violate international humanitarian law. The investigation began before the Labour Party came to power after its landslide election victory on 4 July.
“I regret to have to inform this House [de los Comunes] “The report I have received leaves me no option but to conclude that, in the case of certain UK arms exports to Israel, there is a clear risk that they could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law,” Lammy told MPs.
The UK government does not sell arms directly to Israel, but merely grants export licences to arms companies. There are currently 350 licences in place, meaning the suspension affects less than 10% of all licences. The material covered by the suspension consists largely of components for military aircraft, including fighter jets, helicopters and drones.
In fact, the total volume of arms supplied by the United Kingdom to Israel represents barely 1% of the total military material imported by this country. Its two main suppliers, by a long way from the rest, are the United States and Germany. In 2023, Berlin approved export licenses to the Jewish State worth 330 million euros, ten times more than in 2022. And Washington gives Israel annually some 3.1 billion euros in military aid.
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This is a decision with few practical consequences, but a high symbolic weight, because it represents a serious diplomatic blow to Netanyahu’s government. London thus becomes the first major Western ally of Israel to suspend, even partially, arms sales to this Middle Eastern nation.
Despite the limited real effect of this step, the Israeli government has reacted with outrage. “It is deeply disheartening to learn of the sanctions imposed by the UK Government on export licenses for Israel’s defence system,” wrote the country’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, on X (formerly Twitter).[La decisión] “It comes as we are fighting a war on seven fronts, a war that was launched unprovoked by a savage terrorist organization. As we mourn the six hostages who were executed in cold blood by Hamas inside the tunnels in Gaza,” Gallant said. Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the decision, which he called “disappointing,” “sends a very troubling message” to Hamas and its Iranian allies.
The request of Spain and Ireland
Unlike the resolution shown by the British Government, the European Commission is still doing nothing and keeping in limbo the request made last February by the governments of Spain and Ireland to review the association agreement between the European Union and Israel. The President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has not responded to the letters sent by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the then Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, in which they urged a rethinking of trade relations between Brussels and Israel.
The Spanish government has since insisted on the need to use the tools available to the EU institutions to increase pressure on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and stop its military offensive in Gaza. Spain claims that since 7 October, when Hamas carried out a massacre in Israeli territory, no new arms shipments have been approved. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, promised this during a parliamentary debate held on 5 December.
The previously agreed shipments, however, were delivered. During 2023, 34 export licenses for weapons and military equipment to Israel were approved, worth 9.3 million euros, although the value of the material actually delivered amounted to only 2.3 million.
The British report
The Foreign Office report avoids directly linking British arms to possible violations of humanitarian law in Gaza, but notes concern about the scale of the destruction in the Palestinian strip and the number of civilian casualties. The report has focused on three areas: the provision of humanitarian aid and access to victims; the treatment of detainees; and the conduct of the military campaign. The investigators note that the Israeli authorities have not provided access to Palestinian prisoners, despite lengthy negotiations, to British judicial authorities or to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Starmer government has tried to play both sides and try to preserve some semblance of balance in its decision, especially so as not to add tension to an ally such as the US government of Joe Biden, which has so far rejected any suspension of arms exports on the basis of a possible violation of international humanitarian law. Washington did decide, last May, to temporarily stop the shipment of a ship loaded with ammunition, due to concerns about the offensive launched in the Rafah area by the Israeli army, which led to the forced displacement of one million Palestinians.
“The UK is not an international court. We have not and could not have made any assessment of whether Israel has breached international humanitarian law. Our assessment is a precautionary one, not a decision on guilt or innocence. And it is not intended to prejudge future decisions by the relevant courts in the future,” Lammy said.
British government sources were quick to point out that the suspension of export licences did not in any way diminish the firm support for Israel and its right to defend itself against possible attacks. They also pointed out that other previous governments – such as those of the Conservatives, Margaret Thatcher, and Gordon Brown – had also taken the decision to suspend exports on similar occasions.
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