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British government ‘flouting their own rules’ on Israel arms sales

Campaigners call on government to halt complicity in war crimes

CAMPAIGNERS accused the British government of “flouting their own rules” by exporting arms when there’s a risk of them being used to commit war crimes.

Labour’s David Lammy urged Foreign Secretary David Cameron to face MPs in the House of Commons and address concerns about arms export licences directly.

In January, documents filed in High Court showed that Lord Cameron recommended British arms sales to Israel despite “serious concerns” in the Foreign Office that it had breached international law.

More than 600 lawyers have since signed a letter warning the government to suspend the sales, or risk breaking international humanitarian law.

Lord Cameron has been urged to reveal whether he has received legal advice on continuing the licences, amid warnings that he could be breaching the ministerial code by not publishing the advice if he received it.

Mr Lammy said that Lord Cameron had “gone silent” on the issue, after he claimed that he sought new counsel on the matter in March.

“We cannot have a foreign secretary dodging scrutiny on arms sales, which is a matter of enormous legal and diplomatic importance,” Mr Lammy wrote in a letter to the foreign secretary.

But Kate Hudson from Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament hit back that it was “no use hiding behind criticisms of Cameron when Labour itself has failed to stand on the right side of history.”

“As government continues to withhold the legal opinion on arms to Israel, it's time for Labour also to unequivocally call for an embargo.”

Oliver Feeley-Sprague, Amnesty International UK’s military, security and policing director, said the suspension of arms transfers was “long overdue.”

“Ministers and officials are blatantly flouting their own rules about not exporting UK arms when there’s a clear risk of them being misused.

“With every weapon and every piece of military kit the UK sends to the Israeli war machine the UK is deepening its complicity in Israel’s war crimes, apartheid and possible genocide in Gaza.”

A government spokesperson said it reviewed advice on Israel’s commitment to international law and that this is “confidential.”

Last week, three British aid workers were murdered in an air strike by the Israeli Defence Forces in Gaza.

The drone that killed them was partially manufactured in Britain by UAV Engines, according to Campaign Against Arms Trade.

As the death toll in Gaza tops 33,000, the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats have all called for a ban on arms sales, with Labour only committing to a ban if government lawyers believe Israel risks breaching international law.

Despite being “shocked by the bloodshed,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reaffirmed his support of Israel’s right to “defend their security” in a statement on the six-month anniversary of the October 7 attacks.

Today it was announced that a Royal Navy ship will be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean to help launch a new sea corridor for supplies.

And at their spring conference in Edinburgh this weekend, the Scottish Greens called for Israeli military flights to be banned from British air space.

According to a report by Declassified UK, at least six Israeli Air Force aircraft have visited Britain since the Gaza bombing began.

Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater insisted her party would “not stand back and be complicit in slaughter.”

She said that pressure from Greens and others meant that “Israeli military flights are now banned from using the publicly owned Prestwick airport.”

But she added: “One airport is not enough.

“The Scottish Greens are calling for Israeli military flights to be banned from all UK air space, and an immediate halt to all UK arms sales to Israel.”

Green councillor Alys Mumford said calls for an end to arms sales to Israel had only increased because “white Western aid workers are murdered” branding this “deep, naked racism.”

In London on Saturday, more than 500 police were deployed as counter-protesters faced off against an Al-Quds Day march in support of Palestine. Ten arrests were made.

One of the protesters, Abid, said: “Our message to the government in the UK is to stop co-operating with a regime who’s involved in a genocide. 

“Countries in Europe have already started to cut the supplies, all supplies, to Israel, so why can’t our government stop supplying them arms?”

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