More than 600 British jurists, including three retired judges from the U.K. Supreme Court, are calling on the government to suspend arms sales to Israel, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after the deaths of three U.K. aid workers in an Israeli strike.
Quick Read
- Call for Arms Sales Suspension: Over 600 British jurists, including three retired U.K. Supreme Court judges, are urging the government to halt arms sales to Israel following the deaths of three U.K. aid workers in an Israeli strike.
- International Pressure: The demand reflects growing pressure on countries allied with Israel to reconsider weapon exports due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
- Legal Concerns: The jurists’ open letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak highlights potential complicity in international law violations and cites the International Court of Justice’s warning of a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza.
- Civilian Casualties: The call for an arms embargo has intensified after an Israeli airstrike, which Israel termed a mistake, killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three Britons.
- Political Reactions: The U.K.’s opposition and some senior Conservatives are advocating for a halt to arms sales, contingent on Israel’s compliance with international law.
- Government Stance: While Prime Minister Sunak emphasizes Israel’s right to self-defense, he stresses the importance of adhering to international humanitarian law.
- U.K.-Israel Arms Trade: The U.K.’s military exports to Israel were valued at 42 million pounds in 2022, a relatively minor amount.
- Global Response: Canada has ceased future weapon shipments to Israel, and the Netherlands faces legal restrictions on exporting F-35 fighter jet parts, though it plans to appeal. The U.S. and Germany, as major arms suppliers, continue their sales.
- Potential Impact: Former U.K. national security advisor Peter Ricketts suggests that suspending U.K. arms sales, while not altering the war’s course, could send a significant political message and possibly influence discussions in the U.S.
The Associated Press has the story:
600 senior UK jurists join opposition party, calling to stop arms sales to Israel
Newslooks- LONDON (AP) —
More than 600 British jurists, including three retired judges from the U.K. Supreme Court, are calling on the government to suspend arms sales to Israel, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after the deaths of three U.K. aid workers in an Israeli strike.
Britain is just one of a number of Israel’s longstanding allies whose governments are under growing pressure to halt weapons exports because of the toll of the six-month-old war in Gaza.
In an open letter to Sunak published late Wednesday, the lawyers and judges said the U.K. could be complicit in “grave breaches of international law” if it continues to ship weapons.
Signatories, including former Supreme Court President Brenda Hale, said Britain is legally obliged to heed the International Court of Justice’s conclusion that there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza.
The letter said the “sale of weapons and weapons systems to Israel … falls significantly short of your government’s obligations under international law.”
Britain is a staunch ally of Israel, but relations have been tested by the mounting death toll, largely civilian, from the war. Calls for an end to arms exports have escalated since an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers from the aid charity World Central Kitchen, three of them British.
Israel says the attack on the aid workers was a mistake caused by “misidentification.”
The U.K.’s main opposition parties have all said the Conservative government should halt weapons sales to Israel if the country has broken international law in Gaza.
Several senior Conservatives have urged the same, including Alicia Kearns, who heads the House of Commons foreign affairs committee.
Sunak has not committed to an arms export ban, but said Wednesday that “while of course we defend Israel’s right to defend itself and its people against attacks from Hamas, they have to do that in accordance with international humanitarian law.”
British firms sell a relatively small amount of weapons and components to Israel. Defense Secretary Grant Shapps has said that military exports to Israel amounted to 42 million pounds ($53 million) in 2022.
Other allies of Israel are also facing calls to cut off the supply of weapons and to push for a cease-fire in the conflict, which has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza.
In February, Canada announced it would stop future shipments, and the same month a Dutch court ordered the Netherlands to stop the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel. The Dutch government said it would appeal.
Other countries, including Israel’s two biggest arms suppliers, the United States and Germany, continue to allow weapons sales.
Peter Ricketts, a former U.K. national security advisor, said suspension of U.K. arms sales would not change the course of the war, but “would be a powerful political message.”
“And it might just stimulate debate in the U.S. as well, which would be the real game-changer,” he told the BBC.
The killing of aid workers adds to pressure on the UK government to halt arms sales to Israel
Britain’s main opposition parties demanded Wednesday that the Conservative government publish legal advice it has received on whether Israel has broken international humanitarian law during the war in Gaza. They say the U.K. should ban weapons sales to Israel if the law has been broken.
Quick Read
- Opposition Demand: Britain’s main opposition parties have called on the Conservative government to disclose legal advice regarding Israel’s adherence to international humanitarian law amid the Gaza conflict.
- Arms Sales Concerns: They argue that if Israel is found to have violated international law, the U.K. should halt arms sales to the country.
- Mounting Pressure: The demand intensifies following an Israeli airstrike that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including three British citizens, raising questions about Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
- Legal Advice Transparency: Labour Party’s foreign affairs spokesman David Lammy and London Mayor Sadiq Khan are pressing for the publication of the legal advice to ensure U.K. arms are not used in breach of international humanitarian law.
- Calls for an Arms Embargo: Both the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party advocate for stopping arms sales to Israel in light of the ongoing conflict.
- Government’s Position: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, while not committing to release the legal advice, emphasized that the U.K. adheres to stringent regulations for arms exports and insists that Israel must comply with international humanitarian law in its self-defense actions against Hamas, especially in protecting civilian lives.
The Associated Press has the story:
The killing of aid workers adds to pressure on the UK government to halt arms sales to Israel
Newslooks- LONDON (AP) —
Britain’s main opposition parties demanded Wednesday that the Conservative government publish legal advice it has received on whether Israel has broken international humanitarian law during the war in Gaza. They say the U.K. should ban weapons sales to Israel if the law has been broken.
Britain is a staunch ally of Israel, but relations have been tested by the mounting death toll of the almost six-month war. Calls for an end to arms exports have escalated since an Israeli airstrike killed seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen, three of them British.
David Lammy, foreign affairs spokesman for the main opposition Labour Party, said “there are very serious accusations that Israel has breached international law.”
He urged the government to “publish the legal advice now.”
“If it says there is a clear risk that U.K. arms might be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law, it’s time to suspend the sale of those arms,” Lammy told British broadcasters
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, one of the country’s most senior Labour officials, said “I don’t understand any justification for not publishing the legal advice that they’ve got.”
“It’s important they publish that legal advice so that we can have confidence that the British government is following international law as well,” Khan told reporters in London.
Two smaller opposition parties, the centrist Liberal Democrats and secessionist Scottish National Party, called on the government to halt arms sales to Israel.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak did not commit to publishing the legal advice, but said the U.K. followed a strict “set of rules, regulations and procedures” over licensing arms exports.
“I have been consistently clear with Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu since the start of this conflict that while of course we defend Israel’s right to defend itself and its people against attacks from Hamas, they have to do that in accordance with international humanitarian law, protect civilian lives — and sadly too many civilians have already lost their lives,” Sunak told The Sun newspaper’s politics podcast.
