Daily Archives: 3 June 2025

Approved UK arms exports to Israel skyrocketed under Labour, data shows

Spread the love

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/major-jump-approved-uk-arms-exports-israel-weeks-after-gaza-ban

Foreign Secretary David Lammy announcing the partial suspension of arms exports to Israel in September 2024 (Parliamentary Recording Unit/AFP)

UK greenlit $169m in military goods to Israel in three months after a partial arms embargo

The UK government approved $169m worth of military equipment to Israel in the three months that followed the Labour government’s partial suspension of arms exports over concerns they could be used unlawfully in Gaza. 

Export data released on Thursday shows that 20 different licences in categories such as military aircraft, radars, targeting equipment, and explosive devices, were approved between October and December 2024.

Arms campaigners say the three-month total is more than what was approved altogether under the Tory government between 2020 and 2023, and said the increase was “truly shocking”.

“This is the Labour government aiding and abetting Israel’s genocide in Gaza,” said Emily Apple, media coordinator for the UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade. 

“It is sickening that instead of imposing a full two-way arms embargo, Keir Starmer’s government has massively increased the amount of military equipment the UK is sending to Israel.” 

…

Article continues at https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/major-jump-approved-uk-arms-exports-israel-weeks-after-gaza-ban

Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government's support for Israel's Gaza genocide and the UK government and military's active participation in genocide.
Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.

The UK Labour government hugely increased arms exports to Israel while giving the impression of restricting them. The UK government made the announcement of suspending 30 licences on 2nd September 2024.

Guardian: UK suspends 30 arms export licences to Israel after review 2nd September 2024

An Israeli F-35 fighter jet taking off. The suspension covers components for certain military aircraft. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA

Foreign Office says review found ‘clear risk’ UK arms may be used in violation of humanitarian law

The UK has broken with the Biden administration on a significant part of their tightly coordinated policy towards Israel by announcing it is suspending some arms export licences to Israel because of a “clear risk” they may be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

The Foreign Office said a two-month internal review had raised concerns about the way Israel had conducted itself in the conflict in Gaza and that the decision specifically related to concerns around the treatment of Palestinian detainees and the supply of aid to Gaza.

No definitive conclusion has been reached about whether UK arms export licences have contributed to the destruction in the territory. But the scale of the devastation and the number of civilian deaths caused great concern, the Foreign Office said.

The suspension, which is likely to cause tensions with the US government, covers components for military aircraft, helicopters, drones and targeting equipment.

…

Article continues at Guardian: UK suspends 30 arms export licences to Israel after review 2nd September 2024

F-35 parts from UK continue to be supplied to Israel but diverted via the US.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9964

UK arms exports to Israel

Research Briefing

Published Wednesday, 08 January, 2025

Mr Lammy also said the decision would not affect the F-35 programme that supplies aircraft to more than 20 countries (except where components go directly to Israel, which are included in the action). Mr Lammy said the global F-35 supply chain is “vital for the security of the UK, our allies and NATO”.

UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Continue ReadingApproved UK arms exports to Israel skyrocketed under Labour, data shows

UK’s arms sales to Israel must end to stop ‘ethnic cleansing in Gaza’

Spread the love

https://www.thenational.scot/news/25211588.uk-arms-sales-israel-must-end-stop-ethnic-cleansing-gaza

Steve Witherden, MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, held a Parliamentary debate on British arms sales to Israel (Image: Parliament TV)

A WELSH Labour MP has called on the UK Government to suspend all arms sales to Israel to ensure that the UK is not “complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza”. 

Steve Witherden, MP for Montgomeryshire and Glyndŵr, held a Parliamentary debate on British arms sales to Israel on Monday evening, calling on the UK Government to suspend all arms exports. 

During the debate, Witherden described Gaza as a “slaughterhouse” and said that the UK Government is still letting the “weapons flow” into Israel despite the country’s genocidal acts on Gaza.  

Witherden also highlighted the lack of transparency surrounding the true extent of UK military exports to Israel, particularly regarding the supply of components for the F-35 fighter jet programme, and urged ministers to outline the specific conditions that would trigger a halt to further exports. 

“The Government have claimed that there are red lines that would trigger a halt to exports, but Gaza is already a slaughterhouse,” Witherden said.  

“Children are emaciated or dying of hunger, hospitals have been intentionally destroyed and Israel’s leaders vow to wipe out Gaza, and still the weapons flow, so finally, Minister, where is our red line?” 

The Labour MP added: “I call on this Government to suspend all arms exports to Israel, to ensure that no British-made weapons are used in Israel’s brutal plans to annex, starve and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population. 

…

Article continues at https://www.thenational.scot/news/25211588.uk-arms-sales-israel-must-end-stop-ethnic-cleansing-gaza

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel's Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don't do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.

Petition: Immediately stop all arms exports to Israel & seek ceasefire in Gaza

Continue ReadingUK’s arms sales to Israel must end to stop ‘ethnic cleansing in Gaza’

Greens react to Starmer’s defence plans following Strategic Defence Review

Spread the love
Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire. CC image Wikipedia.
Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire. CC image Wikipedia.

Reacting to the Strategic Defence Review and Keir Starmer’s speech earlier today outlining the government’s defense spending plans, Ellie Chowns MP, who holds the defence brief for the Parliamentary Green Party, said

“Keir Starmer is sounding like he is on a war path with his “battle-ready, armour-clad nation” rhetoric. Security is not just based on arms expenditure and threats, but on real leadership that uses diplomacy and development too. There must be a real commitment to an international order based on human rights, equality and genuine cooperation.

“To avoid the horrors of war and armed conflict, we need to look at the deeper causes of insecurity, including poverty and climate breakdown. This is why the Green Party strongly supports the restoration of the international aid budget to at least 0.7% of GNI. And we will continue to argue that real patriotism means ending UK-made weapons or components being sold to dictators, human rights abusers or for use against civilians anywhere in the world.

“The prime minister has talked up the boost to jobs and the economy through increased defence expenditure, but there are many more jobs of the future to be created right now in the clean, green – and peaceful – economy, a sector growing four times faster than the rest of the economy. This is where the government’s focus for investment should be if they are serious about a secure and resilient future.”

Continue ReadingGreens react to Starmer’s defence plans following Strategic Defence Review

Morning Star Editorial: Starmer’s mantra of ‘Preparing for war’ is a self-fulfilling prophecy

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmers-mantra-preparing-war-self-fulfilling-prophecy

 Prime Minister Keir Starmer (centre), Defence Secretary John Healey (second right) and Managing Director of BAE Systems’ naval ships business Simon Lister (right) speak to a member of staff during a visit to BAE Systems in Govan, Glasgow, to launch the Strategic Defence Review.

LAUNCHING his government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) in Glasgow yesterday, Keir Starmer set out his mission to “Make Britain safer and stronger. A battle-ready, armour-clad nation with the strongest alliances and the most advanced capabilities equipped for the decades to come.”

It might have sounded more convincing had he delivered it from inside a suit of armour, perhaps in the manner of a Monty Python sketch. The sub-Churchillian rhetoric was, as usual, embarrassing. The self-delusion was boundless. And the underlying intent is as criminal as it is suicidal.

One would think that Britain is some poor defenceless lamb besieged by ravenous wolves, not the world’s fifth-biggest nuclear weapons power, the sixth-biggest military spender and the seventh-biggest arms exporter (notably to Middle East dictatorships and genocidal Israel).

But for armour-clad Sir Keir, this is not enough. More nuclear warheads, each with three times the killing power of Hiroshima. Thousands more missiles to deliver them across vast tracts of the globe. More nuclear and conventional submarines.

And six new munitions factories, boosting our military-industrial complex already swollen with many billions of pounds that would otherwise be wasted on homes, schools, clinics, hospitals, civil defences, green energy plants and low-carbon transport systems.

…

Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmers-mantra-preparing-war-self-fulfilling-prophecy

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpA
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Starmer’s mantra of ‘Preparing for war’ is a self-fulfilling prophecy

Thoughts of the Day 3 June 2025

Spread the love
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.

Continuing from the most recent Thoughts of the Day, the climate crisis is the most urgent issue for security increasing ignored by Keir Starmer’s UK Labour government. Starmer’s ramping up of hostile militarism is a backwards move that will further aggravate huge climate effects that should instead be addressed urgently. We need urgent, fundamental, transformational climate action urgently. Starmer’s government is following Trunmp’s lead in neglecting – actually ignoring and actively disregarding – the climate crisis.

Hostility to Russia is fake, manufactured nonsense which should have been abandoned decades ago. Ukraine is a proxy war resulting from hostile, unnecessary militarism, Russia is concerned about a hostile NATO increasingly threatening and encroaching on it’s borders. Russia’s concerns for the persecution of Russian-speakers from Fascist militarists should have been respected.

Starmer is attempting to gain widespread support for his right-wing, authoritarian militarist project. A better path would be a widespread rejection of this BS, persecution [oops, I mean prosecution] of genocidal Fascists and to address the climate crisis urgently. Starmer’s hostile militarism is going to get derailed by climate regardless – severe climate effects are increasingly dominating all and everything. The sooner climate issues are properly addressed the better.

Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Continue ReadingThoughts of the Day 3 June 2025