The British government is coming under escalating pressure to suspend arms sales to Israel as more than 600 lawyers and retired judges sent a letter to the government, arguing that the sales violated international law.
The move is coming after the strike on a convoy in Gaza that killed seven aid workers, including three Britons.
Citing the risk of famine among Palestinians, a potential Israeli military assault on the city of Rafah and a finding of the U.N.’s top court that there was a “plausible risk” of genocide in Gaza, the lawyers urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to “suspend the provision of weapons and weapons systems” to Israel.
“Serious action,” the 17-page letter sent on Wednesday concluded, “is moreover needed to avoid U.K. complicity in grave breaches of international law, including potential violations of the Genocide Convention.”
Among the signatories are Brenda Hale, a former president of Britain’s Supreme Court; Jonathan Sumption and Nicholas Wilson, former justices on the court; and dozens of the country’s most prominent lawyers.
The signatories, among them former Supreme Court President Brenda Hale, said the UK is legally obliged to heed the International Court of Justice’s conclusion that there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza.
“Sale of weapons and weapons systems to Israel … falls significantly short of your government’s obligations under international law,” the letter read.
London is a staunch ally of Israel, but relations have been tested by the war’s rapidly mounting civilian death toll.
While UK firms sell a relatively small amount of weapons and components to Israel, Defense Secretary Grant Shapps has said military exports to Israel amounted to £42 million in 2022 alone.
It provides components that make up 15% of the F-35 stealth combat aircraft, currently being used by Israel to relentlessly bomb Gaza.
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The UK’s main opposition parties have all said the Conservative government should halt weapons sales to Israel if the country has broken international law in Gaza.
Sunak has not committed to an arms export ban, but said Wednesday that “while of course we defend Israel’s right to defend itself and its people against attacks from Hamas, they have to do that in accordance with international humanitarian law.”
Britain is just one of a number of Israel’s longstanding allies facing calls to cut off the supply of weapons and to push for a ceasefire in the conflict.
Peter Ricketts, a former UK national security advisor, said the suspension of UK arms sales would not change the course of the war, but “would be a powerful political message.”
“And it might just stimulate debate in the US as well, which would be the real game-changer,” he said.
In February, Canada announced it would stop future shipments.
That same month a Dutch court ordered the Netherlands to stop the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel. The Dutch government said it would appeal.
Other countries, including Israel’s two biggest arms suppliers, the US and Germany, continue to allow weapons sales.
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