A demonstrator outside the Royal Courts of Justice, May 13, 2025
THERE is clear evidence British weapons are contributing to war crimes in Gaza, campaigners outside the High Court said yesterday as the government went on trial to defend its continued supply of arms to Israel.
The case, case brought by Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, challenges the government’s decision to continue exporting components for F-35 jets, described by its US manufacturer Lockheed Martin as “the most lethal” fighter jet in the world.
Last September, the government enforced a partial ban on arms exports to Israel, suspending 30 out of 350 licences, after admitting there was a “clear risk” they could be used to violate international law.
But it carved out an exception for F-35 components, arguing that they are part of a global supply programme and important to international security.
Campaign Against the Arms Trade said that British industry manufactures 15 per cent of each jet, which have dropped 2,000lb bombs on “safe zones” in Gaza.
The government said the parts would not be sent directly to Israel, but allows them to be supplied via the global spares pool and F-35 partner countries, a move lawyers argue breaches international and domestic law.Raza Husain KC, for Al-Haq, said the loophole “gives rise to a significant risk of facilitating crime.”
UK Labour Party government Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are participants and complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide providing Israel with army 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 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/QILgUHrdWREVote For Genocide Vote Labour.
A World Central Kitchen vehicle hit by an Israeli drone in Gaza. (Photo: Omar Ashtawy via Alamy)
New court documents reveal that ministers David Cameron and Kemi Badenoch authorised UK arms sales to Israel right after an airstrike killed three British charity workers in Gaza.
On 1 April, Israeli forces launched a series of airstrikes on a convoy of aid workers in Gaza, killing three Britons, a Polish national, a Palestinian, an American-Canadian dual citizen, and an Australian.
The Israeli Air Force carried out the bombing with a Hermes 450 drone. According to Campaign Against the Arms Trade, this drone may be powered by a R902(W) Wankel engine produced in Britain by UAV Engines Limited (UEL).
New court documents show that the UK government decided to continue arms exports to Israel on 8 April, one week after the strike on the aid workers who were employed by the charity World Central Kitchen (WCK).
The revelation will put additional pressure on the Foreign Office to justify its decision not to suspend arms sales to Israel.
‘Killed with British weapons’
Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq challenged the UK government today in court over arms sales to Israel.
Documents provided to the court show that the UK government has conducted five legal assessments of the situation in Gaza since 18 December.
One of those assessments, which covered the period 18 December to 29 February, was delivered to UK foreign secretary David Cameron on 28 March.
On 3 April, two days after the Israeli airstrike on the aid workers, Cameron used this assessment to recommend that the UK continue arms sales to Israel.
Five days later, UK trade secretary Kemi Badenoch authorised the continuation of extant licences and new licences to Israel, according to GLAN’s press statement.
Human rights groups say UK is ignoring its own rules on arms exports after hundreds of Palestinians killed
Campaigners block the road in East London outside the DSEI arms fair Photo: @CAATuk / Twitter
The UK government has no plans to suspend arms sales to Israel, despite human rights campaigners warning its exports have been used to kill civilians, openDemocracy has been told.
The UK has approved millions of pounds worth of licences for military equipment to Israeli forces since 2015. They include components for F-35 fighter jets, which can deliver ground strikes and have been recently pictured in social media posts from the Israeli Air Force.
In response to Hamas’ attack on Israel which killed hundreds of civilians, Israeli forces have fired thousands of bombs into Gaza since 7 October. As of yesterday, 2,750 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza strip, according to the Palestinian health ministry. This figure was given before an attack on al-Ahli Arab hospital that reportedly killed 500 people.
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, warned last week that “Palestinians are in grave danger of mass ethnic cleansing”.
openDemocracy asked the Department of Business and Trade if it would suspend and review its export licences for arms to Israel in light of the reported civilian killings. In response, the department said the licences were “under continual review” but there were “no immediate plans to stop arms export licences to Israel”.
Emily Apple, media coordinator for the Campaign Against the Arm Trade, said: “It is disgusting that the Department for Business and Trade is refusing to suspend and review arms licences to Israel given the mounting evidence of war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.
“UK industry is responsible for 15% of the components used in the F35 stealth combat aircraft that are being used in airstrikes, and the UK is therefore complicit in war crimes committed by the Israeli government.”
Any UK company wishing to export military goods to other nations must apply for a licence to do so. The government has a number of criteria that must be met before licences can be granted.
One of the criteria is to “not grant a licence if [the department] determines there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.
Officials are also told not to grant licences if there is a “likelihood that the items would be used in the territory of another country other than for legitimate purposes including national or collective self defence”.
The campaign group Palestine Action, which has taken direct action in the UK against Israeli arms company Elbit, said it was “no surprise” that the UK government is continuing to allow arms exports.
“Numerous weapons factories, including ones owned by Israel’s largest weapons firm, continue to operate on our doorsteps, who market their weapons as “battle-tested” on the captive population of Gaza,” a spokesperson for the group said.
The UK has in the past paused export licences in response to reports that its criteria may have been breached.
In 2019, the then foreign secretary Dominic Raab suspended arms exports to NATO ally Turkey after it invaded Syria, on the grounds that it risked worsening the humanitarian crisis in the country.
The UK revoked some arms licences to Israel in 2009 after hundreds of Palestinians were killed in airstrikes by Israeli forces. During the 2o14 conflict, the government warned it would suspend licences again if hostilities continued, but ultimately did not go-ahead with the decision.
The decision to continue supplying arms to Israel comes after MPs and campaign groups raised concerns about a growing lack of transparency from the government over exports licences.
In October, an enquiry led by MPs found that despite pledges from the government to improve transparency “progress has been limited” and that “there is a worrying lack of openness and data on compliance”.
The Campaign Against the Arms Trade told openDemocracy that there is a “disturbing lack of transparency over arms sales to Israel”.
“The UK government has hidden behind exemptions and refused to supply CAAT with data regarding recent exports by Elbit subsidiaries, and a large proportion of UK sales are hidden by open export licences where it is impossible to monitor the amount of weapons sold,” it said.
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive, urged the government to reverse its decision to continue supplying Israel with arms.
“The UK’s arms export system is based on the principle of avoiding a clear risk of British weapons being used to commit serious violations of international law. There’s mounting evidence that Israel’s military conduct in Gaza during the last week has included indiscriminate attacks which have killed and injured large numbers of Palestinian civilians.
“The government needs to follow its own rules and urgently suspend export licences for all arms transfers to Israel that risk being used to commit further unlawful attacks.”
Campaigners slam Western governments for continuing to arm Israel as Palestinians in Gaza search desperately for food, water and shelter amid the bombs
Campaigners block the road in East London outside the DSEI arms fair Photo: @CAATuk / Twitter
ACTIVISTS have slammed the scheduled visit of United States President Joe Biden to Israel on Wednesday as the relentless bombardment of Gaza leaves Palestinians searching desperately for food, water and shelter.
The visit was announced just as Iran issued a stern warning to the Israelis that it may intervene in the conflict.
Israel bombed areas of southern Gaza where it had previously told Palestinians to flee, killing dozens of people on Tuesday.
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British companies provide 15 per cent of the components for the F-35 stealth combat aircraft that Israel is currently using in the bombardment of Gaza, in contracts worth £336 million, Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) said.
The group is demanding the government revoke all licences for arms exports and is backing calls from Palestine trade unions for workers to refuse to build or export weapons to Israel.
CAAT’s Emily Apple said: “There should be no hierarchy when it comes to the killing of civilians.
“However, in continuing to arm Israel, this government is showing that it does not value Palestinian lives.
“Through its arms sales, and particularly through the supply of components for the F-35s, the UK is complicit in war crimes in Gaza.
Campaigners block the road in East London outside the DSEI arms fair Photo: @CAATuk / Twitter
HUNDREDS of peace campaigners gathered outside of London’s ExCel centre today to tell arms dealers and the world’s worst human rights abusing nations that they are not welcome.
It came as UK Defence and Security Exports published the list of countries invited to Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI).
Eight of the nations are on the British government’s own list of countries of concern, such as Saudi Arabia.
Protests, co-ordinated by the Stop The Arms Fair (Staf), have been targeting the event since it began preparations last week, leading to at least 12 arrests.
A demonstrator outside the Royal Courts of Justice, May 13, 2025
