Rishi Sunak is under mounting pressure – including from within his own party – to immediately suspend arms sales to Israel amid a growing chorus of opposition to the number of civilians killed in its war on Hamas.
The prime minister faces calls from Tory grandees, hundreds of lawyers, dozens of MPs and peers from across the political spectrum, as well as top military commanders to halt arms exports to the nation.
Mr Sunak has also been urged to exert Britain’s influence on Israel to force a change of approach in how Israel Defence Forces (IDF) conducts the invasion.
Days after the slaughter of seven aid workers, three of them British, The Independent joins the call for the sale of arms to Israel to stop.
Conservative former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said Britain must suspend arms sales to Israel unless it demonstrates an urgent change in the behaviour of the IDF.
The former cabinet minister said unless Israel offers Britain and other backers “credible evidence” that it is changing the instructions being given to its troops, Britain should stop providing it with weapons.
“It is a question of the instructions given to the military as to how much care you have to take to avoid mistakes or collateral damage,” he told The Independent.
“It is very difficult to believe the rules of engagement being used by the Israel Defence Forces, not just in this instance but increasingly over the last few weeks, meet the standard that ought to be applied.”
Sir Malcolm said that, without evidence of a change in approach, “it is almost impossible to justify continuing to help them with the provision of arms”.
The government does not directly supply Israel with weapons. Instead, it grants export licences for British companies to sell arms to the country and can block those sales by suspending the licences.
The UK has taken this course twice before. Margaret Thatcher’s government suspended arms exports following Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, while Tony Blair’s government blocked sales of some military equipment in 2002.
Sir Malcolm, who served in Thatcher and John Major’s governments, said if Israel is not prepared to change course, “then there have to be consequences”.
But the former defence secretary dismissed the idea Israel has deliberately targeted civilians or aid workers as “nonsense”.
He said that in the country’s “understandable zeal” to get rid of every Hamas terrorist, “the precautions any army has to apply to avoid collateral damage are not as rigorous as they should be”.
His stance was echoed by figures including Sir Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill, and Mark Logan, a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Work and Pensions. Sir Alan Duncan, who served as a minister between 2010 and 2019, voiced concerns from Conservative ranks in strongly condemning Israel’s killing of the aid workers as “merciless”. Conservative MPs Flick Drummond and David Jones also called on the government to suspend arms to Israel.
Layla Moran, an MP whose family have just escaped the Gaza Strip after being trapped in the war-torn territory for months, told The Independent that a suspension of arms exports would send a “powerful message”.
“It would send a powerful message not only to the US but also the Israeli government that if it breaks international humanitarian law it cannot do so without consequences,” said the British-Palestinian Liberal Democrat.
Rishi Sunak said Israel’s war in Gaza is becoming ‘increasingly intolerable’ (The Sun)Tory infighting grows as peer calls for end to Israel arms sales
Britain’s ongoing arms sales to Israel have provoked bitter infighting within the Conservative party, as Rishi Sunak came under mounting pressure to halt weapons exports in light of the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Israeli military likely knew identities of aid workers killed in charity convoy, humanitarian groups say
The prime minister faces calls from Tory grandees, hundreds of lawyers, dozens of MPs and peers from across the political spectrum, as well as top military commanders to halt arms exports to the nation.
Mr Sunak has also been urged to exert Britain’s influence on Israel to force a change of approach in how Israel Defence Forces (IDF) conducts the invasion.
Days after the slaughter of seven aid workers, three of them British, The Independent joins the call for the sale of arms to Israel to stop.
Conservative former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said Britain must suspend arms sales to Israel unless it demonstrates an urgent change in the behaviour of the IDF.
The former cabinet minister said unless Israel offers Britain and other backers “credible evidence” that it is changing the instructions being given to its troops, Britain should stop providing it with weapons.
“It is a question of the instructions given to the military as to how much care you have to take to avoid mistakes or collateral damage,” he told The Independent.
“It is very difficult to believe the rules of engagement being used by the Israel Defence Forces, not just in this instance but increasingly over the last few weeks, meet the standard that ought to be applied.”
Sir Malcolm said that, without evidence of a change in approach, “it is almost impossible to justify continuing to help them with the provision of arms”.
The government does not directly supply Israel with weapons. Instead, it grants export licences for British companies to sell arms to the country and can block those sales by suspending the licences.
The UK has taken this course twice before. Margaret Thatcher’s government suspended arms exports following Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, while Tony Blair’s government blocked sales of some military equipment in 2002.
Sir Malcolm, who served in Thatcher and John Major’s governments, said if Israel is not prepared to change course, “then there have to be consequences”.
But the former defence secretary dismissed the idea Israel has deliberately targeted civilians or aid workers as “nonsense”.
He said that in the country’s “understandable zeal” to get rid of every Hamas terrorist, “the precautions any army has to apply to avoid collateral damage are not as rigorous as they should be”.
His stance was echoed by figures including Sir Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill, and Mark Logan, a parliamentary private secretary in the Department for Work and Pensions. Sir Alan Duncan, who served as a minister between 2010 and 2019, voiced concerns from Conservative ranks in strongly condemning Israel’s killing of the aid workers as “merciless”. Conservative MPs Flick Drummond and David Jones also called on the government to suspend arms to Israel.
Layla Moran, an MP whose family have just escaped the Gaza Strip after being trapped in the war-torn territory for months, told The Independent that a suspension of arms exports would send a “powerful message”.
“It would send a powerful message not only to the US but also the Israeli government that if it breaks international humanitarian law it cannot do so without consequences,” said the British-Palestinian Liberal Democrat.
 |
| Layla Moran said suspending arms sales to Israel would send a ‘powerful message’ to the US and Israel (AFP via Getty Images) |
 |
| Sir Alex Younger said Benjamin Netanyahu risks squandering international support for Israel (EPA) |
Rishi Sunak said Israel’s war in Gaza is becoming ‘increasingly intolerable’ (The Sun)Tory infighting grows as peer calls for end to Israel arms salesBritain’s ongoing arms sales to Israel have provoked bitter infighting within the Conservative party, as Rishi Sunak came under mounting pressure to halt weapons exports in light of the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Israeli military likely knew identities of aid workers killed in charity convoy, humanitarian groups say
 |
| Image:Shifa hospital in Gaza |
View image in fullscreenA baby injured after an Israeli attack on Tel al-Sultan is taken to hospital. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesCivil servants request to stop work over arms sales to Israel
Image:Labour MP John McDonnell
How international law could force Britain to stop arms sales to Israel
The devastated area around Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital, which was once the largest health facility in the Gaza Strip, following a two-week Israeli raid. CREDIT: AFPWhat is the gist of the legal argument for an arms embargo?
The Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has been quite firm with Israel, so is the UK really in legal jeopardy?
What does the law say about UK arms sales specifically?
What does the government’s own internal legal advice say?
Has the UK ever suspended arms sales to Israel before?
How big an arms exporter is Britain to Israel?
Have any countries already stopped arms sales to Israel?
What does the public think?
Other than an export ban on arms, what else does the expert legal letter to the government call for?Work actively and effectively to secure an “immediate and permanent” ceasefireTake all available measures to get aid into Gaza, including a commitment to continue aid payments to the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA)Impose sanctions on those who have made statements inciting genocideSuspend steps for furthering the UK’s “strategic partnership” with Israel; and initiate urgent reviews into the suspension of current bilateral trade agreement with IsraelBut surely Israel has a right to self defence?
“It will also send a message to those in Israel who are resisting Netanyahu, that the international community will no longer allow Israel to act with impunity if it breaks the law.”
Ms Moran also called for “an immediate bilateral ceasefire so that no one is put in harm’s way British or not”, adding: “That is the only immediate answer to stopping the killing right now.
“There is a sea change in British public opinion right now but it shouldn’t have taken the deaths of brave British aid workers and tens of thousands of people in Gaza for that to happen.”
General Sir Richard Dannatt, the former head of the British army, called on Mr Sunak to “look very carefully” at what Britain sells to Israel and said ministers should ensure Britain’s defence relationship with the country remains within international law.
He said the prime minister should take note of “the very large number of legal professionals who are concerned about this”.
But Lord Dannatt added that it is “not just a legal issue, it is a moral issue, and we need to think very closely whether we are on the right side of the moral line on this”.
“There is no doubt that Israel had right on its side, in war terms, to decide to go on the offensive against Hamas,” he said.
But he added: “What is not reasonable is the way they have conducted themselves, they have killed far too many people, and far too many people who are innocent Gazan citizens wrapped up in their attempts to kill Hamas terrorists.”
Sir Malcolm and Lord Dannatt’s interventions came after Sir Alex Younger, ex-head of M16, said the aid workers’ deaths showed Israel was using “systematic targeting” that risked slaughtering innocent people by mistake.
He said Benjamin Netanyahu was in danger of squandering Israel’s right to claim a “moral purpose” in the war with Hamas over the “reckless” killings.
More than 600 lawyers, including former Supreme Court president Lady Hale, have signed a letter to the prime minister warning that the government risks breaching international law by continuing to export weapons to Israel.
The signatories said the worsening situation in Gaza and the International Court of Justice’s conclusion that there was a “plausible risk of genocide” obliged the UK to suspend arms sales to the country. Palestinian health officials say nearly 33,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far. More than 200 aid workers have died.
Former Supreme Court justice Jonathan Sumption was a signatory. He told Sky News: “The point about having an obligation to prevent genocide is that you have to take steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen, or it doesn’t continue.
“It is perfectly clear, therefore, that to supply arms to Israel is not consistent with our obligations.”
Meanwhile, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, urged the government to publish any legal advice it had received on whether Israel had broken international law, and to suspend arms sales if there was a risk weapons could be used in “a serious breach of international humanitarian law”. The SNP and the Liberal Democrats have also called for arms exports to be suspended.
Labour MP and former frontbencher Dr Rosena Allin-Khan said Israel’s killing and destruction in Gaza was “indiscriminate” and had been “horrifying to witness”.
Downing Street has declined to say whether it believes Israel was operating within international humanitarian law, saying it would not comment on legal advice.
Israel’s highest-ranking military officer has apologised for making a “grave mistake” after the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers were killed.
British victims John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, were part of the WCK security team.
They died alongside American-Canadian dual citizen Jacob Flickinger, 33; Australian national Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom, 43, who was the leader of the relief team; Polish national Damian Sobol, 35; and Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25.
The IDF attacked the aid convoy because officials believed an armed member of Hamas was travelling with the group, though no such person was with the aid workers, Haaretz reports.
Nicholas Soames says end to weapons exports would send strong message on the crisis in Gaza
Amid continued international anger after an Israeli drone strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza, Nicholas Soames, the veteran Tory peer, said the UK should send a message about Israel’s actions – the latest in a series of Conservative figures to call for an end to UK arms sales.
As Downing Street and David Cameron, the foreign secretary, remained largely silent, a furious row broke out over Israel’s actions, with the former minister Alan Duncan lambasting what he called pro-Israel “extremists” within the Tories, prompting the party to investigate his comments.
Keir Starmer also faces pressure to back an end to arms sales after Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, and Margaret Beckett, the Labour MP who was foreign secretary under Tory Blair, called on the government to consider immediate action.
Soames, a former minister who spent 36 years in the Commons before being made a peer, said that in the wake of the deaths of seven aid workers for World Central Kitchen, among them three Britons, the UK needed to stop providing Israel with arms.
He told the Guardian: “It’s probably time that that happened now, yes, I think if we’re determined to show that we are not prepared to countenance these ongoing disasters. Israel have every right to go after Hamas, there’s no shadow of doubt about that.”
The UK’s contribution to Israel’s arsenal “would be tiny and it’s probably parts more than anything else”, Soames said, adding: “I think it is the message that matters.”
Soames joins his fellow Conservative peer Hugo Swire and three Tory MPs – David Jones, Paul Bristow and Flick Drummond – in calling for arms sales to be suspended.
A fourth Tory MP, Mark Logan, called on Thursday for the UK’s arms exports to Israel to be reviewed. “We need to seriously reassess any weapon materials/arms exports to Israel in light of what has happened,” he said in a post on X.
In contrast, the former home secretary Suella Braverman argued on Thursday that Israel was “absolutely not” in breach of international law.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The suggestion itself is absurd and, frankly, an insult to Israel who have been going above and beyond the necessary requirements to ensure that civilian casualties are limited, to ensure that aid is received on to the Gaza Strip and distributed.”
Braverman was among a series of Tories subsequently targeted by Duncan. The ex-MP, who served as a foreign minister and an aid minister before stepping down in 2019, said Braverman, as well as Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, and the peer and former cabinet minister Eric Pickles, should be expelled from the Conservatives.
Speaking to LBC, Duncan accused Pickles and another Tory peer, Stuart Polak, of “exercising the interests of another country” by lobbying for Israel through the Conservative Friends of Israel group, which Polak formerly headed.
In a later interview with Times Radio, Duncan said other Tory MPs and ministers –including Michael Gove, Oliver Dowden, Braverman, Robert Jenrick and Priti Patel – were also extremists for not condemning illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.
Some people in the party “refuse to condemn settlements and therefore are not supporters of international law”, Duncan said. “I think the time has come to flush out those extremists in our own parliamentary politics and around it.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said Duncan’s comments “effectively accuse two Conservative peers, one of whom is Jewish, of dual loyalties” and described this as “disgraceful”.
A Conservative spokesperson told the Guardian that Duncan would be investigated by the party over the remarks. Duncan responded by saying anyone who sought to take action against him would find it “proves dangerously harmful to their own reputation”.
With the government remaining opaque on its legal advice about Israel’s conduct after the 7 October massacre by Hamas, a fourth former supreme court justice has signed a letter arguing that the government is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
Lord Robert Carnwath, who served on the supreme court from 2012 to 2020, was among another 200 lawyers to sign the letter, taking the total to about 800. Its signatories include the supreme court’s former president Lady Hale.
It comes after the Guardian published a letter from senior lawyers and judges warning that the UK government was breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
Separately, the former head of MI6 said Israel’s actions in Gaza had “bordered on the reckless”.
Alex Younger, who led the Secret Intelligence Service between 2014 and 2020, said it was “hard not to conclude that insufficient care is being paid to the collateral risks of these operations, one way or another”.
Lord Cameron refused to answer questions about Israel and Gaza when interviewed by the BBC on Thursday morning or during media questions at a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.
Downing Street has given no indication that it plans to halt sales, or of when any legal opinion might be released.
According to Israel’s Channel 13 News, during Sunak’s conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening, he warned the Israeli prime minister that if more aid did not reach Gaza soon, the UK would formally declare Israel to have breached international law, which could have consequences for weapons sales.
In a video interview with the Sun on Wednesday evening, Sunak said arms licences were kept under careful review according to “regulations and procedures that we’ll always follow”.
Civil servants have expressed concern they could be deemed complicit in war crimes in Gaza if Israel is found to have broken international law.
Civil servants overseeing arms exports to Israel have requested to "cease work immediately" over fears they could be complicit in war crimes in Gaza.
Officials in the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) have raised concerns with senior civil servants that they may be liable if it is deemed Israel has broken international law.
Politics Live: Ex-Foreign Office minister hits back after probe into Israel comments
In correspondence seen by Sky News, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents civil servants, has requested an urgent meeting with the department to discuss "the legal jeopardy faced by civil servants who are continuing to work on this policy".
The letter, sent on Wednesday, said: "Given the implications for our members we believe there are ample grounds to immediately suspend all such work.
"We therefore request that you meet with us urgently to discuss this matter and cease work immediately."
It is understood members have asked their employers to stop giving them tasks related to export licences to Israel, alongside other work that may be related to Israel's war on Gaza.
The PCS confirmed to Sky News that it is considering legal action against the government.
The correspondence shows the union has been asking ministers for its legal advice on arming Israel since January, when a preliminary ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found Israel's acts in Gaza could amount to genocide.
A response to the union dated 13 March said "the question of criminal liability for civil servants is very unlikely to arise".
However, the department said it can't share the legal advice it is receiving as it is "confidential".
Paul O'Connor, head of bargaining at PCS, said the union agrees with the ICJ and believes "that the UK government has an obligation to do all it can to halt the onslaught".
"As it does not appear to be willing to do so, we are seriously considering taking legal action to prevent our members from being forced to carry out unlawful acts. We do not take such cases lightly and we only do so where we have reasonable prospect of winning," he said.
Labour MP John McDonnell, a founding member of the PCS union group in parliament, said following a government's instructions is not a defence when it comes to charges of war crimes - and ministers must "come clean" with the legal advice it is receiving.
He told Sky News: "These civil servants should not be put at risk.
"The Rome Statute covering war crimes is clear that following a superior's instructions is not a defence when it comes to charges of war crimes. The government must come clean on the legal advice they have."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has come under growing pressure to suspend arms sales to Israel after three British aid workers were killed in an airstrike on Monday.
Last night, a letter signed by more than 600 lawyers, including former Supreme Court justices, warned the UK is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
The government does not directly supply Israel with weapons, but does grant export licences for British companies to sell arms to the country.
The US remains by far the largest supplier of weapons to Israel, with Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell recently telling MPs that UK exports accounted for just 0.02% of Israel's military imports.
There has been pressure within the Conservative Party to end exports - with MPs Flick Drummond, David Jones and Paul Bristow urging the government to reconsider.
The Lib Dems, the SNP and dozens of Labour MPs also want arms sales to be suspended, although the Labour leadership's position is the government should publish its legal advice and suspend arms sales if there is a risk weapons could be used in "a serious breach of international humanitarian law".
A government spokesperson said: "We keep advice on Israel's adherence to International Humanitarian Law under review and will act in accordance with that advice.
"All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria."
Legal experts warn ministers that they could be ‘complicit in genocide’ if arms sales continue
No politician wants to spend their twilight years in the dock at the Hague, so it is with some seriousness that David Cameron and Rishi Sunak will have read the 17-page legal letter sent to them on Monday evening by 600 of the nation’s top lawyers.
Whitehall officials, too, will be pouring over the detail of the text which was signed among others by three former Supreme Court justices, including Lord Sumption. They will be well aware that, in matters of international law pertaining to genocide, the defence of ‘I was only following orders’ is no defence at all.
The letter makes the case, with some force, that UK ministers and officials could be charged with the crimes of “complicity to genocide” and “aiding and abetting genocide” unless the country rapidly changes course in its relations with Israel.
It argues not only that arms sales to Israel should be stopped to avoid this risk, but that Britain’s “strategic partnership” with Israel should be suspended.
It even call for sanctions to be placed on prominent individuals – almost certainly including the Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant – who have made statements inciting genocide.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the allegations of genocide which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is investigating “outrageous”, and said Israel has an “unwavering commitment to international law”.
He was supported yesterday by the former home secretary Suella Braverman, who briefly worked as a lawyer in the areas of planning and immigration. Israel is “absolutely not” in breach of international law, she said, adding that the very suggestion was “absurd”.
The letter says that “serious action” is needed to “avoid UK complicity in grave breaches of international law, including potential violations of the Genocide Convention”.
It points out that the ICJ has ruled it is “plausible” Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that Britain is a signatory to the Genocide Convention.Britain therefore has a legal duty to “take immediate measures to bring to an end … acts giving rise to a serious risk of genocide,” it says.
Failure to comply with these obligations “would incur UK state responsibility for the commission of an international wrong, for which full reparation must be made”.
Unfortunately words are not enough.
The Convention says signatories must take “all measures to prevent genocide which [are] within its power,” if they are to stay on the right side of the law.
“Serious action is … needed to avoid UK complicity in grave breaches of international law, including potential violations of the Genocide Convention,” say the lawyers.
The UK cannot wait until the ICJ decides for certain whether or not a genocide is being committed, they add. “It must act now in accordance with its obligation to prevent genocide.”
The letter calls on the government to suspend the provision of “weapons and weapons systems” to Israel. It says the provision of “military assistance and material” to Israel may render the UK “complicit in genocide”.
It adds that the UK could also be charged with “aiding and assisting” war crimes under other elements of international law.
“Such transfers are prohibited even if the exporting State does not intend the arms to be used in violation of the law – or does not know with certainty that they would be used in such a way – as long as there is a clear risk,” it quotes UN legal experts as saying.
Finally, the lawyers say that continued arms exports to Israel are likely in breach of UK domestic law.
The UK’s Strategic Export Licencing Criteria (“SELC”) requires the UK government to refuse to licence military equipment for export where there is “a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” it says.
No one knows for sure because it has not been published but it is unlikely to differ significantly from the advice contained in the experts’ letter.
Alicia Kearns, head of the foreign affairs select committee, said last week she had been told that government lawyers believed Israel was committing human rights violations.
On Thursday, there were calls in Parliament for the government’s own legal advice to be published.
David Lammy, the shadow foreign affairs secretary, urged ministers to “publish the legal advice now.”
“If it says there is a clear risk that UK arms might be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law, it’s time to suspend the sale of those arms,” he added.
Yes. In July 2009, Britain revoked five export licences for weapons on Israeli navy missile boats because of their use during the Gaza Strip in the 2008-2009 war.
The licences covered spare parts for guns on Israel’s Sa’ar 4.5 ships, which reportedly fired missiles and artillery shells into the Palestinian coastal territory during the three-week conflict, which started in late December.
At the time, the foreign office in London insisted the rare move did not constitute an embargo but was the application of normal UK and EU export licensing criteria. Still, it linked the decision directly to Operation Cast Lead – the Israeli codename for the attacks.
Later, during the 2014 war, a government-led review into the UK’s licensed exports to Israel identified 12 licences for military components which could be used in Israeli equipment in Gaza, including radar systems, combat aircraft and tanks.
When the review was published, in August 2014, a ceasefire had been called. The UK government said it would suspend the 12 licences “in the event of a resumption of significant hostilities”. It also said that the UK would continue to not grant new licences while the conflict persisted.
The vast bulk – 69 percent – of Israel’s weapons imports between 2013 and 2022 came from the US. Germany accounted for 30 per cent of Israel’s arms imports during this period, while less than 0.1 per cent came from the UK.
Although our exports are small – just £42 million in 2022 – the ICJ is unlikely to see that as a defence were a legal case to be brought against the UK in future.
Our exports to Israel include explosive devices, assault rifles and military aircraft, including parts for drones.
Yes. Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain and Belgium have all suspended arms sales in the wake of Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
A poll conducted by the charity Action for Humanity and conducted before the strikes which killed seven western aid workers this week, found a majority of UK voters – 56 per cent – are in favour of a ban of arms exports to Israel. By a majority of 59% to 12% voters say Israel is violating human rights in Gaza.
Other than an arms embargo, the letter says the UK must put in place four other measures if it is to be reliably in compliance with the Genocide Convention. These are to:
Although an arms embargo would have symbolic power, it is these measures that might have the most real-world impact on Israel given the small scale of UK arms exports.
Absolutely. But international law requires that violence employed in self defence must be proportionate and remain within the rules of war.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, Lord Sumption emphasised this point.
The “framework of international law around war” did not mean countries can act as they want, even when provoked or attacked “outrageously”, as happened on October 7.
”[Defence] doesn’t mean to say that you can indiscriminately slaughter innocent civilians and children. It doesn’t mean to say you can attack aid convoys, you can withdraw the visas of aid workers. It doesn’t mean to say you can spend two weeks flattening hospitals.
“There are limits to what people can do, even in self-defence,” he said.
Full list: Tories calling to end arms sales to Israel
Tory peer Nicholas Soames (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
The tragic news of the deaths of three British aid workers in Gaza, killed in an Israeli strike, has sobered the nation this week. It sparked a strongly-worded letter from Rishi Sunak to Israel’s Prime Minister on Tuesday evening, in which Sunak said he was ‘appalled’ by the killing of aid workers and the ‘intolerable’ situation in the Middle East. The PM also told Benjamin Netanyahu that ‘Israel’s rightful aim of defeating Hamas would not be achieved by allowing a humanitarian catastrophe’.
Now, Conservative peers and MPs are publicly calling for the UK to halt arms sales to Israel. The list includes Tory peer Sir Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill, who said that Britain should send a ‘message’ to Israel about the country’s action in Gaza, and Mark Logan MP, a parliamentary private secretary working in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Other Tory backbenchers calling for the UK to stop arming Israel include Clwyd West MP David Jones, who blasted the Israeli PM’s response to the British deaths — ‘I thought that [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s response – “these things happen in war” – was completely inadequate, frankly shamefully inadequate’ — and Meon Valley MP Flick Drummond, who said that arms sales to Israel should be stopped ‘for the foreseeable future’.
Full list here:David Jones MP
Flick Drummond MP
Lord Swire
Paul Bristow MP
Mark Logan MP, PPS Department for Work and Pensions
Lord Soames
Image:Labour MP John McDonnellHow international law could force Britain to stop arms sales to Israel
The devastated area around Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital, which was once the largest health facility in the Gaza Strip, following a two-week Israeli raid. CREDIT: AFPWhat is the gist of the legal argument for an arms embargo?The Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has been quite firm with Israel, so is the UK really in legal jeopardy?
What does the law say about UK arms sales specifically?
What does the government’s own internal legal advice say?
Has the UK ever suspended arms sales to Israel before?
How big an arms exporter is Britain to Israel?
Have any countries already stopped arms sales to Israel?
What does the public think?
Other than an export ban on arms, what else does the expert legal letter to the government call for?Work actively and effectively to secure an “immediate and permanent” ceasefireTake all available measures to get aid into Gaza, including a commitment to continue aid payments to the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA)Impose sanctions on those who have made statements inciting genocideSuspend steps for furthering the UK’s “strategic partnership” with Israel; and initiate urgent reviews into the suspension of current bilateral trade agreement with IsraelBut surely Israel has a right to self defence?
“It will also send a message to those in Israel who are resisting Netanyahu, that the international community will no longer allow Israel to act with impunity if it breaks the law.”
Ms Moran also called for “an immediate bilateral ceasefire so that no one is put in harm’s way British or not”, adding: “That is the only immediate answer to stopping the killing right now.
“There is a sea change in British public opinion right now but it shouldn’t have taken the deaths of brave British aid workers and tens of thousands of people in Gaza for that to happen.”
General Sir Richard Dannatt, the former head of the British army, called on Mr Sunak to “look very carefully” at what Britain sells to Israel and said ministers should ensure Britain’s defence relationship with the country remains within international law.
He said the prime minister should take note of “the very large number of legal professionals who are concerned about this”.
But Lord Dannatt added that it is “not just a legal issue, it is a moral issue, and we need to think very closely whether we are on the right side of the moral line on this”.
“There is no doubt that Israel had right on its side, in war terms, to decide to go on the offensive against Hamas,” he said.
But he added: “What is not reasonable is the way they have conducted themselves, they have killed far too many people, and far too many people who are innocent Gazan citizens wrapped up in their attempts to kill Hamas terrorists.”
Sir Malcolm and Lord Dannatt’s interventions came after Sir Alex Younger, ex-head of M16, said the aid workers’ deaths showed Israel was using “systematic targeting” that risked slaughtering innocent people by mistake.
He said Benjamin Netanyahu was in danger of squandering Israel’s right to claim a “moral purpose” in the war with Hamas over the “reckless” killings.
More than 600 lawyers, including former Supreme Court president Lady Hale, have signed a letter to the prime minister warning that the government risks breaching international law by continuing to export weapons to Israel.
The signatories said the worsening situation in Gaza and the International Court of Justice’s conclusion that there was a “plausible risk of genocide” obliged the UK to suspend arms sales to the country. Palestinian health officials say nearly 33,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far. More than 200 aid workers have died.
Former Supreme Court justice Jonathan Sumption was a signatory. He told Sky News: “The point about having an obligation to prevent genocide is that you have to take steps to ensure that it doesn’t happen, or it doesn’t continue.
“It is perfectly clear, therefore, that to supply arms to Israel is not consistent with our obligations.”
Meanwhile, Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, urged the government to publish any legal advice it had received on whether Israel had broken international law, and to suspend arms sales if there was a risk weapons could be used in “a serious breach of international humanitarian law”. The SNP and the Liberal Democrats have also called for arms exports to be suspended.
Labour MP and former frontbencher Dr Rosena Allin-Khan said Israel’s killing and destruction in Gaza was “indiscriminate” and had been “horrifying to witness”.
Downing Street has declined to say whether it believes Israel was operating within international humanitarian law, saying it would not comment on legal advice.
Israel’s highest-ranking military officer has apologised for making a “grave mistake” after the seven World Central Kitchen aid workers were killed.
British victims John Chapman, 57, James “Jim” Henderson, 33, and James Kirby, 47, were part of the WCK security team.
They died alongside American-Canadian dual citizen Jacob Flickinger, 33; Australian national Lalzawmi “Zomi” Frankcom, 43, who was the leader of the relief team; Polish national Damian Sobol, 35; and Palestinian Saifeddin Issam Ayad Abutaha, 25.
The IDF attacked the aid convoy because officials believed an armed member of Hamas was travelling with the group, though no such person was with the aid workers, Haaretz reports.
Nicholas Soames says end to weapons exports would send strong message on the crisis in Gaza
Amid continued international anger after an Israeli drone strike killed seven aid workers in Gaza, Nicholas Soames, the veteran Tory peer, said the UK should send a message about Israel’s actions – the latest in a series of Conservative figures to call for an end to UK arms sales.
As Downing Street and David Cameron, the foreign secretary, remained largely silent, a furious row broke out over Israel’s actions, with the former minister Alan Duncan lambasting what he called pro-Israel “extremists” within the Tories, prompting the party to investigate his comments.
Keir Starmer also faces pressure to back an end to arms sales after Sadiq Khan, the London mayor, and Margaret Beckett, the Labour MP who was foreign secretary under Tory Blair, called on the government to consider immediate action.
Soames, a former minister who spent 36 years in the Commons before being made a peer, said that in the wake of the deaths of seven aid workers for World Central Kitchen, among them three Britons, the UK needed to stop providing Israel with arms.
He told the Guardian: “It’s probably time that that happened now, yes, I think if we’re determined to show that we are not prepared to countenance these ongoing disasters. Israel have every right to go after Hamas, there’s no shadow of doubt about that.”
The UK’s contribution to Israel’s arsenal “would be tiny and it’s probably parts more than anything else”, Soames said, adding: “I think it is the message that matters.”
Soames joins his fellow Conservative peer Hugo Swire and three Tory MPs – David Jones, Paul Bristow and Flick Drummond – in calling for arms sales to be suspended.
A fourth Tory MP, Mark Logan, called on Thursday for the UK’s arms exports to Israel to be reviewed. “We need to seriously reassess any weapon materials/arms exports to Israel in light of what has happened,” he said in a post on X.
In contrast, the former home secretary Suella Braverman argued on Thursday that Israel was “absolutely not” in breach of international law.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The suggestion itself is absurd and, frankly, an insult to Israel who have been going above and beyond the necessary requirements to ensure that civilian casualties are limited, to ensure that aid is received on to the Gaza Strip and distributed.”
Braverman was among a series of Tories subsequently targeted by Duncan. The ex-MP, who served as a foreign minister and an aid minister before stepping down in 2019, said Braverman, as well as Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, and the peer and former cabinet minister Eric Pickles, should be expelled from the Conservatives.
Speaking to LBC, Duncan accused Pickles and another Tory peer, Stuart Polak, of “exercising the interests of another country” by lobbying for Israel through the Conservative Friends of Israel group, which Polak formerly headed.
In a later interview with Times Radio, Duncan said other Tory MPs and ministers –including Michael Gove, Oliver Dowden, Braverman, Robert Jenrick and Priti Patel – were also extremists for not condemning illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.
Some people in the party “refuse to condemn settlements and therefore are not supporters of international law”, Duncan said. “I think the time has come to flush out those extremists in our own parliamentary politics and around it.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said Duncan’s comments “effectively accuse two Conservative peers, one of whom is Jewish, of dual loyalties” and described this as “disgraceful”.
A Conservative spokesperson told the Guardian that Duncan would be investigated by the party over the remarks. Duncan responded by saying anyone who sought to take action against him would find it “proves dangerously harmful to their own reputation”.
With the government remaining opaque on its legal advice about Israel’s conduct after the 7 October massacre by Hamas, a fourth former supreme court justice has signed a letter arguing that the government is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
Lord Robert Carnwath, who served on the supreme court from 2012 to 2020, was among another 200 lawyers to sign the letter, taking the total to about 800. Its signatories include the supreme court’s former president Lady Hale.
It comes after the Guardian published a letter from senior lawyers and judges warning that the UK government was breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
Separately, the former head of MI6 said Israel’s actions in Gaza had “bordered on the reckless”.
Alex Younger, who led the Secret Intelligence Service between 2014 and 2020, said it was “hard not to conclude that insufficient care is being paid to the collateral risks of these operations, one way or another”.
Lord Cameron refused to answer questions about Israel and Gaza when interviewed by the BBC on Thursday morning or during media questions at a meeting of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels.
Downing Street has given no indication that it plans to halt sales, or of when any legal opinion might be released.
According to Israel’s Channel 13 News, during Sunak’s conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening, he warned the Israeli prime minister that if more aid did not reach Gaza soon, the UK would formally declare Israel to have breached international law, which could have consequences for weapons sales.
In a video interview with the Sun on Wednesday evening, Sunak said arms licences were kept under careful review according to “regulations and procedures that we’ll always follow”.
Civil servants have expressed concern they could be deemed complicit in war crimes in Gaza if Israel is found to have broken international law.
Civil servants overseeing arms exports to Israel have requested to "cease work immediately" over fears they could be complicit in war crimes in Gaza.
Officials in the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) have raised concerns with senior civil servants that they may be liable if it is deemed Israel has broken international law.
Politics Live: Ex-Foreign Office minister hits back after probe into Israel comments
In correspondence seen by Sky News, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents civil servants, has requested an urgent meeting with the department to discuss "the legal jeopardy faced by civil servants who are continuing to work on this policy".
The letter, sent on Wednesday, said: "Given the implications for our members we believe there are ample grounds to immediately suspend all such work.
"We therefore request that you meet with us urgently to discuss this matter and cease work immediately."
It is understood members have asked their employers to stop giving them tasks related to export licences to Israel, alongside other work that may be related to Israel's war on Gaza.
The PCS confirmed to Sky News that it is considering legal action against the government.
The correspondence shows the union has been asking ministers for its legal advice on arming Israel since January, when a preliminary ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found Israel's acts in Gaza could amount to genocide.
A response to the union dated 13 March said "the question of criminal liability for civil servants is very unlikely to arise".
However, the department said it can't share the legal advice it is receiving as it is "confidential".
Paul O'Connor, head of bargaining at PCS, said the union agrees with the ICJ and believes "that the UK government has an obligation to do all it can to halt the onslaught".
"As it does not appear to be willing to do so, we are seriously considering taking legal action to prevent our members from being forced to carry out unlawful acts. We do not take such cases lightly and we only do so where we have reasonable prospect of winning," he said.
Labour MP John McDonnell, a founding member of the PCS union group in parliament, said following a government's instructions is not a defence when it comes to charges of war crimes - and ministers must "come clean" with the legal advice it is receiving.
He told Sky News: "These civil servants should not be put at risk.
"The Rome Statute covering war crimes is clear that following a superior's instructions is not a defence when it comes to charges of war crimes. The government must come clean on the legal advice they have."
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has come under growing pressure to suspend arms sales to Israel after three British aid workers were killed in an airstrike on Monday.
Last night, a letter signed by more than 600 lawyers, including former Supreme Court justices, warned the UK is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
The government does not directly supply Israel with weapons, but does grant export licences for British companies to sell arms to the country.
The US remains by far the largest supplier of weapons to Israel, with Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell recently telling MPs that UK exports accounted for just 0.02% of Israel's military imports.
There has been pressure within the Conservative Party to end exports - with MPs Flick Drummond, David Jones and Paul Bristow urging the government to reconsider.
The Lib Dems, the SNP and dozens of Labour MPs also want arms sales to be suspended, although the Labour leadership's position is the government should publish its legal advice and suspend arms sales if there is a risk weapons could be used in "a serious breach of international humanitarian law".
A government spokesperson said: "We keep advice on Israel's adherence to International Humanitarian Law under review and will act in accordance with that advice.
"All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria."
Legal experts warn ministers that they could be ‘complicit in genocide’ if arms sales continue
No politician wants to spend their twilight years in the dock at the Hague, so it is with some seriousness that David Cameron and Rishi Sunak will have read the 17-page legal letter sent to them on Monday evening by 600 of the nation’s top lawyers.
Whitehall officials, too, will be pouring over the detail of the text which was signed among others by three former Supreme Court justices, including Lord Sumption. They will be well aware that, in matters of international law pertaining to genocide, the defence of ‘I was only following orders’ is no defence at all.
The letter makes the case, with some force, that UK ministers and officials could be charged with the crimes of “complicity to genocide” and “aiding and abetting genocide” unless the country rapidly changes course in its relations with Israel.
It argues not only that arms sales to Israel should be stopped to avoid this risk, but that Britain’s “strategic partnership” with Israel should be suspended.
It even call for sanctions to be placed on prominent individuals – almost certainly including the Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant – who have made statements inciting genocide.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the allegations of genocide which the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is investigating “outrageous”, and said Israel has an “unwavering commitment to international law”.
He was supported yesterday by the former home secretary Suella Braverman, who briefly worked as a lawyer in the areas of planning and immigration. Israel is “absolutely not” in breach of international law, she said, adding that the very suggestion was “absurd”.
The letter says that “serious action” is needed to “avoid UK complicity in grave breaches of international law, including potential violations of the Genocide Convention”.
It points out that the ICJ has ruled it is “plausible” Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and that Britain is a signatory to the Genocide Convention.Britain therefore has a legal duty to “take immediate measures to bring to an end … acts giving rise to a serious risk of genocide,” it says.
Failure to comply with these obligations “would incur UK state responsibility for the commission of an international wrong, for which full reparation must be made”.
Unfortunately words are not enough.
The Convention says signatories must take “all measures to prevent genocide which [are] within its power,” if they are to stay on the right side of the law.
“Serious action is … needed to avoid UK complicity in grave breaches of international law, including potential violations of the Genocide Convention,” say the lawyers.
The UK cannot wait until the ICJ decides for certain whether or not a genocide is being committed, they add. “It must act now in accordance with its obligation to prevent genocide.”
The letter calls on the government to suspend the provision of “weapons and weapons systems” to Israel. It says the provision of “military assistance and material” to Israel may render the UK “complicit in genocide”.
It adds that the UK could also be charged with “aiding and assisting” war crimes under other elements of international law.
“Such transfers are prohibited even if the exporting State does not intend the arms to be used in violation of the law – or does not know with certainty that they would be used in such a way – as long as there is a clear risk,” it quotes UN legal experts as saying.
Finally, the lawyers say that continued arms exports to Israel are likely in breach of UK domestic law.
The UK’s Strategic Export Licencing Criteria (“SELC”) requires the UK government to refuse to licence military equipment for export where there is “a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law,” it says.
No one knows for sure because it has not been published but it is unlikely to differ significantly from the advice contained in the experts’ letter.
Alicia Kearns, head of the foreign affairs select committee, said last week she had been told that government lawyers believed Israel was committing human rights violations.
On Thursday, there were calls in Parliament for the government’s own legal advice to be published.
David Lammy, the shadow foreign affairs secretary, urged ministers to “publish the legal advice now.”
“If it says there is a clear risk that UK arms might be used in a serious breach of international humanitarian law, it’s time to suspend the sale of those arms,” he added.
Yes. In July 2009, Britain revoked five export licences for weapons on Israeli navy missile boats because of their use during the Gaza Strip in the 2008-2009 war.
The licences covered spare parts for guns on Israel’s Sa’ar 4.5 ships, which reportedly fired missiles and artillery shells into the Palestinian coastal territory during the three-week conflict, which started in late December.
At the time, the foreign office in London insisted the rare move did not constitute an embargo but was the application of normal UK and EU export licensing criteria. Still, it linked the decision directly to Operation Cast Lead – the Israeli codename for the attacks.
Later, during the 2014 war, a government-led review into the UK’s licensed exports to Israel identified 12 licences for military components which could be used in Israeli equipment in Gaza, including radar systems, combat aircraft and tanks.
When the review was published, in August 2014, a ceasefire had been called. The UK government said it would suspend the 12 licences “in the event of a resumption of significant hostilities”. It also said that the UK would continue to not grant new licences while the conflict persisted.
The vast bulk – 69 percent – of Israel’s weapons imports between 2013 and 2022 came from the US. Germany accounted for 30 per cent of Israel’s arms imports during this period, while less than 0.1 per cent came from the UK.
Although our exports are small – just £42 million in 2022 – the ICJ is unlikely to see that as a defence were a legal case to be brought against the UK in future.
Our exports to Israel include explosive devices, assault rifles and military aircraft, including parts for drones.
Yes. Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain and Belgium have all suspended arms sales in the wake of Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
A poll conducted by the charity Action for Humanity and conducted before the strikes which killed seven western aid workers this week, found a majority of UK voters – 56 per cent – are in favour of a ban of arms exports to Israel. By a majority of 59% to 12% voters say Israel is violating human rights in Gaza.
Other than an arms embargo, the letter says the UK must put in place four other measures if it is to be reliably in compliance with the Genocide Convention. These are to:
Although an arms embargo would have symbolic power, it is these measures that might have the most real-world impact on Israel given the small scale of UK arms exports.
Absolutely. But international law requires that violence employed in self defence must be proportionate and remain within the rules of war.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday, Lord Sumption emphasised this point.
The “framework of international law around war” did not mean countries can act as they want, even when provoked or attacked “outrageously”, as happened on October 7.
”[Defence] doesn’t mean to say that you can indiscriminately slaughter innocent civilians and children. It doesn’t mean to say you can attack aid convoys, you can withdraw the visas of aid workers. It doesn’t mean to say you can spend two weeks flattening hospitals.
“There are limits to what people can do, even in self-defence,” he said.
Full list: Tories calling to end arms sales to Israel
Tory peer Nicholas Soames (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)
The tragic news of the deaths of three British aid workers in Gaza, killed in an Israeli strike, has sobered the nation this week. It sparked a strongly-worded letter from Rishi Sunak to Israel’s Prime Minister on Tuesday evening, in which Sunak said he was ‘appalled’ by the killing of aid workers and the ‘intolerable’ situation in the Middle East. The PM also told Benjamin Netanyahu that ‘Israel’s rightful aim of defeating Hamas would not be achieved by allowing a humanitarian catastrophe’.
Now, Conservative peers and MPs are publicly calling for the UK to halt arms sales to Israel. The list includes Tory peer Sir Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill, who said that Britain should send a ‘message’ to Israel about the country’s action in Gaza, and Mark Logan MP, a parliamentary private secretary working in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Other Tory backbenchers calling for the UK to stop arming Israel include Clwyd West MP David Jones, who blasted the Israeli PM’s response to the British deaths — ‘I thought that [Benjamin] Netanyahu’s response – “these things happen in war” – was completely inadequate, frankly shamefully inadequate’ — and Meon Valley MP Flick Drummond, who said that arms sales to Israel should be stopped ‘for the foreseeable future’.
Full list here:David Jones MP
Flick Drummond MP
Lord Swire
Paul Bristow MP
Mark Logan MP, PPS Department for Work and Pensions
Lord Soames
Đăng nhận xét