Trading arms with Israel makes the UK complicit in Israel’s continuing violations of human rights and international law.
The Israeli assault on Gaza in July-August 2014, in which 2,205 Palestinians (including 521 children) were killed, was only one example of Israel’s indiscriminate acts of violence against the Palestinian people.
Yet UK-made weapons and military technologies continue to be sold to and used by the occupying Israeli forces.
UK government rules are supposed to prevent arms sales…
- where there is a clear risk of the equipment being used for “internal repression”;
- where the export would “provoke or prolong armed conflicts or aggravate existing tensions or conflicts”; and
- where there is a “clear risk that the intended recipient would use the proposed export aggressively against another country, or to assert by force a territorial claim.”
…and should take into account the buyer country’s “respect for international law”.
If the government’s own export guidelines were properly applied, the result would be a de facto embargo on arms exports to Israel.
At the same time, the UK imports Israeli military hardware and components and also provides training, in the UK, for Israeli military personnel.
Israeli military and industry sources openly attribute the success of Israeli exports to the weapons and technologies being ‘combat proven.’
This means that when the UK imports Israeli arms, it is helping Israel benefit from unlawful practices.