Jerusalem said concerned UK may soon cease arms exports to Israel
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said earlier this month that even if sales of offensive arms are suspended due to Gaza war, defensive weapons exports will continue
Jerusalem is concerned that the UK may cease exporting arms to Israel in the coming days, according to several Hebrew media reports Monday, following other steps taken by the new Labour government to reverse the previous government’s policy on Israel amid the war with Hamas in Gaza.
After the UK earlier this month restored funding to UNRWA — the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants — and withdrew its objection to the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, several outlets said that Israel believes that within the next few days, the UK could announce an end to the sale of arms to Israel.
The Ynet news site, which didn’t cite sources, said Israel is concerned that if the UK were to end weapons exports, other countries could follow.
Other outlets then reported similar details, some citing unnamed diplomatic sources.
While still in the opposition, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy had said earlier this year that the government should suspend the sale of British arms if there was a clear risk they might be used in a serious breach of humanitarian law.
Now in government, he said last week that he had requested an assessment of the legal situation regarding weapons use in Gaza, and that he hoped to be able to communicate any decisions with “full accountability and transparency.”
The defense secretary, who has said he wants a balanced position on Israel and Gaza, signaled earlier this month that even in the event that the UK limits the sale of offensive weapons, it would not implement a blanket ban on arms sales to Israel.
Questioned by a Green Party lawmaker on whether he would act to stop “all UK arms exports to Israel,” Lammy answered in the negative, stressing the need for Israel to have access to defensive weapons.
“Israel is a country surrounded by people who would love to see its annihilation,” Lammy said at the time. “It is being attacked by the Houthis, missiles are being fired from Hezbollah, notwithstanding the desire for Hamas to wipe Israel off the map.
“For those reasons, it would not be right to have a blanket ban between our country and Israel,” he added.
While the UK’s previous Conservative government was a strong supporter of Israel’s right to defend itself following the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught, Reuters found in June that the value of Britain’s approvals of new arms licenses had dropped sharply after the start of the war, with the value of permits granted for the sale of military equipment to its ally falling by more than 95 percent to a 13-year low.
War erupted with the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, during which some 1,200 people were slaughtered and 251 were seized as hostages.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says more than 39,000 people have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 combatants in battle, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 attack.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 331.
