Story so far.

Demand the UK government immediately cease all arms exports to Israel. The government’s own lawyers say Israel is breaking international law.

Israeli bomber aircraft are being used in the ongoing genocide taking place in Gaza. Israel uses British weaponry, surveillance technology and military equipment to kill and enforce a system of apartheid on Palestinians. 15% of components used by Israel’s F-35 aircraft to bomb Gaza are provided by the UK.

The UK government’s own lawyers’ advice is reported to have stated that Israel has breached international humanitarian law in Gaza but has failed to make this public or take any action. This stark report comes against the backdrop of mounting global concern over Israel’s breaches of international law.

The UK is further shamefully providing diplomatic cover to Israel and is, therefore, complicit in the genocide.

FOA calls on the UK government to urgently make legal advice public and immediately cease all arms exports. 

The story so far

Any UK company wanting to export military or dual use goods (that could have military or civilian use) to other nations must have a UK government licence to do so. To abide with international law, the UK’s export criteria state that arms shipments must be stopped when there is a ‘clear risk of violating international humanitarian law’.

The government is already on notice of the risk that its arms may be used in Gaza. It has even previously admitted that UK arms components were used in the 2008-2009 violence in Gaza.

In 2014, the government were forced to warn that it would suspend existing licences if the hostilities continued. Israel’s attacks in 2014 left over 1,000 Palestinian children permanently disabled. Since 2014, Britain has exported nearly £500 million of equipment and military hardware to Israel.

In 2018 and 2019, Israeli forces unlawfully fired live ammunition at Palestinians posing no imminent threat to life at the Great March of Return protests at the fence between Gaza and Israel.

In May 2021, Israel launched brutal attacks on Gaza, causing devastation beyond military necessity and constituting a war crime. Over 250 Palestinians were murdered, including 67 children. Israel deliberately targeted residential buildings housing Palestinian families.

In 2023, the government issued 114 standard individual export licences to Israel. They have failed to make available data on licences granted specifically since 7th October 2023.

No action has been taken to review or suspend arms exports to Israel, despite the fact that, to date (31st March 2024), Israel has:

Gaza

Killed: over 40,000 people, including around:

17,000 children – 2.6% of all children in Gaza are now dead. Gaza was described in November 2023 as a graveyard for children

•  Over 11,000 women

Injured: around 100,000 people

• Missing: 10,000

Occupied West Bank

Killed: at least 454 people, including more than:

•  116 children

• Injured: more than 4,750

Genocide – UK government on notice of clear breaches of international law violations

Receiving legal advice that Israel is breaching international law means that the UK must cease all arms exports to Israel immediately.

•  The government received a notice of intention to prosecute UK officials complicit in war crimes in October 2023, highlighting the already catastrophic situation in Gaza and clear evidence that Israel has committed war crimes. It failed to take any action to respond to the mounting concerns.

•  By the end of October 2023, 8525 deaths were reported and 21,543 were reported as injured.

•  When asked in November 2023 to publish open information on arms export licences to Israel, the Business and Trade secretary refused to do so.

 By mid November 2023, the death toll had risen to over 11,000, injured over 27,000 and displaced 1.6 million people. The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner said:

 “We are deeply disturbed by the failure of governments to heed our call and to achieve an immediate ceasefire. We are also profoundly concerned about the support of certain governments for Israel’s strategy of warfare against the besieged population of Gaza and the failure of the international system to mobilise to prevent genocide”.

In December 2023, several MPs raised urgent concerns about UK arms exports to Israel. These MPs asked the government to immediately halt arms exports.

The death toll had risen to over 18,000 by mid-December, with almost 50,000 injured.

The UK government stated that they undertook a review of existing and pending licences in December 2023 and again failed to take action, continuing to grant new licences and failing to suspend existing ones.

Just one month later, in January 2024, the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) deemed that Israel’s action could amount to ‘plausible genocide’ and issued interim measures designed to hold Israel to account in accordance with its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The genocide continued, and the UK government again failed to cease all arms exports.

The death toll had risen by mid-January to over 23,000 and 60,000 injured.

 In February 2024, UN exports made clear that all arms exports to Israel must stop immediately, stating ‘the need for an arms embargo on Israel is heightened by the ICJ ruling in January 2024 that there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza… This necessitates halting arms exports in the present circumstances”. 

The UK government again failed to take action.

• The death toll rose to over 30,000 by the end of February 2024.

On 6th March 2024, South Africa made a request for additional measures from the ICJ, raising urgent concern about widespread starvation as another breach of international humanitarian law in Israel’s genocide.

On 25th March 2024, The UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan and leading to a lasting sustainable ceasefire.

On 28 March 2024, the ICJ issued an urgent ruling in response to South Africa’s request for additional measures. The ruling noted the worsening conditions in Gaza, ‘in particular the spread of famine and starvation’. The UN has described the famine as an entirely man-made disaster and another clear breach of international humanitarian law.

The UN’s most senior human rights official said that the deliberate starvation in Gaza could amount to a war crime.

•  The death toll rose to over 32,000.

 On 30th March 2024, the Conservative chair of the House of Commons Select Committee on Foreign Affairs said:

 “The Foreign Office has received official legal advice that Israel has broken international humanitarian law but the government has not announced it. They have not said it, they haven’t stopped arms exports.”

What is the UK government waiting for? Despite all of these warnings, government inaction and the continued supply of arms exports to Israel is enabling the genocide to continue. Not only will this inevitably prolong the ongoing catastrophic suffering of the Palestinians, but it places the UK at moral and legal risk of complicity in the ongoing legal processes under the Genocide Convention. 

Contact your MP using the links above to echo our calls to #StopArmingIsrael