Protesters hold placards in a protest to call for an end to the war in Gaza, during Britain’s Foreign Secretary David David Lammy’s visit, in Jerusalem, Aug. 16, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Latifeh Abdellatif)
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday slammed the United Kingdom for deciding to suspend the sale of some arms to the State of Israel, according to an announcement from the British Parliament on Monday.
“Days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, the UK government suspended thirty arms licenses to Israel. This shameful decision will not change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that savagely murdered 1200 people on October 7, including 14 British citizens,” Netanyahu stated on X.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy had on Monday explained his position regarding the war in Gaza to the House of Commons, reminding the UK government of its priority to advance the cause of peace in the region.
Lammy also noted his support for Israel, as well as a two-state solution, before justifying his decision to suspend the sale of some equipment to Israel.
“Our common goal of peace in the Middle East will never be lasting until there is safety, security, and sovereignty for both Israel and a Palestinian state. We must all keep at the forefront of our minds the pain, anguish, and horror this conflict has caused for so many ordinary civilians,” said Lammy.
Lammy continued: “Throughout my life, I have been a friend of Israel, a liberal, progressive Zionist, who believes in Israel as a democratic state and homeland for the Jewish people, which has both the right to exist and defend itself but I believe that Israel will only exist in safety and security if there is a two-state solution that guarantees the rights of all Israel’s citizens and of their Palestinian neighbours who have their own inalienable right to self-determination and security.”
Lammy said he believes there is a “clear risk” that “certain UK arms exports to Israel could be used to commit or enable serious violations of international humanitarian law,” and that the UK Business and Trade secretary would announce “the suspension of around 30 [arms exports], from a total of approximately 350 to Israel, as required under the Export Controls Act.”
“These include licences for equipment that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza, such as important components that go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items that facilitate ground targeting,” he continued.
The UK supplies around 1% of the arms used by Israel, with the U.S. and Germany as the primary suppliers. However, the announcement sends a clear signal to both Britain’s ally in the Middle East and its enemies.
Netanyahu in his statement stressed that “Hamas is still holding over 100 hostages, including 5 British citizens. Instead of standing with Israel, a fellow democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain’s misguided decision will only embolden Hamas.”
“Just as Britain’s heroic stand against the Nazis is seen today as having been vital in defending our common civilization, so too will history judge Israel’s stand against Hamas and Iran’s axis of terror,” the prime minister said.
The decision “sends a very problematic message” to Hamas and Iran, warned Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant posted on 𝕏 that he is “deeply disheartened to learn of the sanctions placed by the U.K. Government on export licenses to Israel’s defense establishment.”
“This comes at a time when we fight a war on 7 different fronts – a war that was launched by a savage terrorist organization, unprovoked. At a time when we mourn 6 hostages who were executed in cold blood by Hamas inside tunnels in Gaza. At a time when we fight to bring 101 hostages home,” Gallant wrote.
“This is not an arms embargo,” the British Labour Party’s former opposition foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, stressed in an interview on the UK’s Channel 4 News, attempting to play down the move.
The former barrister clarified that the implications did not suggest Israel was already committing war crimes. He explained that the criteria were “a pretty low bar” and merely indicated that Israel “might” be at risk of using UK arms or components for “internal repression or external aggression.”
For example, weapons or parts that contribute to the Iron Dome defensive system, Thornberry said, would continue to be acceptable.
Robert O’Brien, a top advisor to U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, warned last week that a UK arms embargo against Israel would jeopardize the so-called ‘special relationship’ between the UK and the U.S., and would “really hurt the western alliance and NATO.”
“The consequences of an arms embargo on Israel is something the UK really needs to think about at a time when Russia and China are posing a massive threat to the west,” O’Brien told the Policy Exchange thinktank.
“A lot of hi-tech on which the UK relies comes directly or indirectly via Israel,” he added.
The new UK Labour government reportedly implemented a secret arms embargo against Israel weeks ago, after publicly stating there would be a “comprehensive review” of the status quo and a delay of the decision.
“Quite apart from the damage to the credibility of the British Government, revealed to be speaking from both sides of its mouth, the revelations also deal a substantial blow to the UK’s authority on legal matters,” the director of UK Lawyers for Israel, Natasha Hausdorff, wrote in The Jerusalem Post.
“It has quickly become apparent that under the present UK government, the facts and the legal analysis are far less important in their formulation of policy towards Israel. In seeking to win back extreme voters whom Labour lost to rival parties, the easy fix is to take an aggressive stance towards Israel and pursue policies which many attribute to the party’s troubled history of antisemitism.”
“The law be damned, much to the glee of Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah,” Hausdorff added.
Even before the UK general election on July 4, it was feared that Lammy would act to restrict UK arms sales to Israel. His predecessor, Lord David Cameron, refused to make such a move, claiming it would only “strengthen Hamas.”
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote in April that an arms embargo against a strong ally would be “shameful” and “insane.”
