Israeli soldiers walk in a tank near the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel on August 21.
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LONDON – Britain’s decision to suspend some arms exports to Israel has angered Israeli officials, confounded Britain’s chief rabbi – and disappointed many human rights groups who say it does not go far enough.
It also marked a shift in British foreign policy, away from being locked in with Washington while supporting Israel.
After months of public protests at arms factories across the country against Israel, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament on Monday, MPs’ first day back from the summer break, that the government had suspended around 30 of the 350 arms export licenses for Israel.
He said a legal review found that “For certain British arms exports to Israel, there is a clear risk that they could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law.” Israel denies breaking any law.
When the anniversary of the attack on October 7, led by Hamas approaches, and the death toll in the Gaza mountains, the British government is one of the few around the world who express increasing alarm at how the war is being conducted.
Here are five things to know about this delay:
1) Britain sends Israel explosives, guns and fighter jet components. But it is not one of Israel’s main suppliers.
The United States and Germany are Israel’s largest arms suppliers. British defense exports to Israel are relatively small and decline from $55 million in 2022, to around $24 million in 2023, according to government figure.
These exports include explosives and explosive devices, assault rifles and military aircraft components. They are manufactured in Britain under a licensing scheme that allows different companies to export different weapons directly to Israel.
In total, Britain has licensed arms worth more than $725 million to Israel since 2008, according to the report parliamentary estimates.
British Defense Secretary John Healey to local radio Tuesday that the partial suspension of arms exports would not have a “material” impact on Israel’s security.
2) This is not an arms embargo.
Several countries – including Canada, Spain, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands – have announced a freeze on all arms exports to Israel in recent months, citing concerns about Israel’s attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.
But the UK suspended less than 10% of the licenses granted to arms manufacturers to export to Israel.
“The UK continues to support Israel’s right to self-defence,” Lammy told MPs. Britain has long been one of Israel’s closest allies.
A legal review of British arms exports to Israel was commissioned earlier this year by the previous Conservative-led government, which lost power in the July 4 election. Not announcing the findings of the review before leaving the office.
The new center-left government is published a policy paper Last Monday explained his decision. He also concluded that Israel has failed in humanitarian aid in Gaza and the treatment of prisoners.
3) Israeli officials say they are disappointed.
At shipment On Tuesday on social media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Britain’s actions “shameful,” and said it would not stop Israel from “pursuing a just war in a just way.”
“Britain’s wrong decision will only upset Hamas,” Netanyahu wrote.
Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoava Gallant, said he was “very sad”.
In England, the country’s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, said it “beggars belief” that Britain would do this to its ally Israel. He suggested that to suspend the export of weapons is especially offensive when funerals are held for Israeli hostages killed in Gaza. (The bodies of the six hostages are get well Sunday in Gaza.)
On Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that British officials had notified their US counterparts of the delay ahead of Lammy’s announcement in Parliament.
4) Human rights groups say they are also disappointed.
Amnesty International called the suspension of British arms exports “very limited and full of loopholes.” Human Rights Watch said it is “not far enough.”
Activists are concerned that Lammy announced an exemption for components of the F-35 fighter jet, which Israel uses to drop bombs on Gaza. About 15% of these components are made in the UK, according to advocacy groups.
“It includes things like the rear fuselage, which is the entire back of the plane, and many other pieces including the bomb release mechanism,” said Katie Fallon, an activist with the Campaign Against Arms Trafficking, one of the groups that has helped organize the national protests.
Fallon told NPR that he was pleased with “all the regular people who have been walking, emailing (members of Parliament), and working tirelessly over the past year.” He saw the British decision as a partial victory for his group.
“We cannot celebrate while the Palestinians are still in a terrible situation,” he said.
Opinion polls show the majority of Britons want the government to stop all arms exports to Israel.
5) Some fear that this could affect UK relations with the US and Israel.
Britain has long been in lockstep with Washington’s allies on Israel policy. But the new British center-left government, elected in July, has shown it can take a more independent approach.
The new prime minister, Keir Starmer, is a former human rights lawyer and prosecutor. He has under pressure from some of his own supporters to speak out about the rise in civilian casualties in Gaza, and punish Israel more forcefully.
Within weeks of taking office, the Starmer government said it restarted funding for UNRWA, the main UN aid agency for Palestine.
Also in late July, the Starmer government allowed a deadline to pass without filing a challenge to the International Criminal Court’s request for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. With the US not a signatory to the court, British allies have promised – according to Starmer’s predecessor Rishi Sunak – to file legal documents challenging the warrant.
But in another break with the US, the Starmer government said it would leave the matter to the ICC, and not intervene.
On Tuesday, when pressed for the Biden administration’s opinion on the suspension of British arms, Miller of the State Department said, “It is appropriate to make its own legal decision based on the system and the law.”
