Blitz Bureau
The UK Government has announced the suspension of some arms export licences to Israel. Foreign Secretary David Lammy informed lawmakers in Parliament on September 2 that around 30 licences, out of a total of approximately 350, were being suspended, Xinhua news agency reported.
Lammy stated that assessments had indicated a clear risk that UK arms could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law.
Two-month review
The Foreign Office said that a twomonth review had raised concerns about Israel’s conduct in the conflict in Gaza.
Israel has condemned the UK Government’s move and called it “a step that sends a very problematic message” to Hamas and its backers in Iran.
Israel disappointed
In a statement, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz expressed his country’s “disappointment” with the latest suspension by the UK’s new Labor government, as well as with previous decisions Britain made regarding Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip.
“Israel is a law-abiding nation,” Katz said, adding that he expects “friendly countries like Britain to recognise this”. He voiced hope that “the deep friendship between Britain and Israel, which has endured since Israel’s founding, will continue in the future”. Lammy said the UK continued to support Israel’s right to defend itself, and this did not amount to an arms embargo, said a BBC report.
Speaking to Radio 4, Israel’s minister for diaspora affairs, Amichai Chikli, said the decision had come “at a very sensitive moment” when Israelis were burying six people “murdered in Hamas tunnels”.
Sacha Deshmukh, chief executive of Amnesty International UK, said the restrictions were “too limited and riddled with loopholes”. Western Governments in recent times have been coming under growing pressure to halt arms sales to Israel over how it is waging the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
