UK defends decision to restrict arms to Israel; Netanyahu calls it shameful

The British Government says there is “a clear risk” that the arms may be used in “serious violation of international humanitarian law” in Gaza. Photo / Getty Images

The British Government has defended its decision to restrict some arm sales to Israel, amid growing domestic and international criticism.

“We’ve made this legal judgment as a result of the process we’re required to follow,” British Defence Secretary John Healey said of the move to suspend 30 of 250 arms export licences where the Government says there is “a clear risk” that the arms may be used in “serious violation of international humanitarian law” in Gaza.

Healey stressed that the UK remains “a staunch ally” of Israel, adding that “our determination to stand with Israel, to be part of the collective defence if they come under direct attack again, as they have done before, remains resolute and absolute”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the announcement “shameful”.

“Days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, the UK Government suspended 30 arms licences to Israel,” he wrote in a thread on X, adding that five British citizens are still being held hostage in Gaza. “With or without British arms, Israel will win this war and secure our common future.”

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused the current leader, Keir Starmer, and Foreign Secretary David Lammy of “abandoning Israel”, while Britain’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, said on X: “It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licences.”

But both Oxfam and Amnesty International said the British government’s actions were insufficient.

Oxfam’s chief executive, Halima Begum, welcomed Britain’s recognition “of the clear risk” that its arms were being used “in serious breaches” of international humanitarian law. But, she said in a statement, “suspending just 30 licences out of 350, and crucially leaving loopholes for components in F-35 fighter jets that have been dropping 2000-pound bombs on Palestinians for months now, is nowhere near adequate”.

Amnesty International said the decision was “too limited”, with its UK chief executive Sacha Deshmukh arguing in a statement that the exemption of the F-35 programme “is a catastrophically bad decision for the future of arms control and misses a clear obligation to hold Israel accountable for its extensive war crimes and other violations”.

Healey said his government did not introduce a suspension for F-35 components, as it is “hard to distinguish” which are used for Israeli jets. “This is a global supply chain, with the UK a vital part of that supply chain,” he told the BBC. “We are not prepared to put at risk the operation of fighter jets that are central to our own UK security, that of our allies and of Nato.”

At least 40,819 people have been killed and 94,291 injured in Gaza since the war started, acording to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children. Israel estimates that about 1200 people were killed in Hamas’ October 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and it says 340 soldiers have been killed since the start of its military operations in Gaza.