Israel lashes out at UK over arms restrictions as US shrugs off move
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy made a statement to Parliament on arms sales to Israel, 2 September 2024
Imran Mulla reports in Middle East Eye on 3 September 2024:
The Israeli government has lashed out at Britain after it announced it had suspended 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel.
Middle East Eye revealed in late July that the government was set to introduce restrictions on arms sales to Israel but days later it emerged that the decision had been delayed until after parliament’s month-long recess.
That postponement was criticised by pro-Palestinian activists and aid groups at the time and in light of the government’s most recent announcement. Oxfam Great Britain’s chief executive Halima Begum said: “In the time parliament has been in recess alone, Oxfam estimates that over 1,100 people have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military.”
The suspension, announced Monday, has sparked outrage in Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it “shameful” and adding that Israel would win against Hamas “with or without British arms”. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the suspension “sends a very problematic message to Hamas and Iran”, and another senior official reportedly branded it a “miserable and insensitive” move.
Chris Doyle, director of the Council for the Advancement of Arab-British Understanding (Caabu), told Middle East Eye that the new policy may cause long-term damage to British-Israeli relations, depending on the Israeli response. Israel could announce they are reducing security cooperation,” Doyle said, “or they could decide it’s not worth making too much of a fuss about and that they understand the domestic political reasons why the British government had to do it.”
He added: “If they go for the more aggressive option it’s hard to see how the relationship would heal quickly. It would add to the sense in Israel that they are increasingly isolated.”
Netanyahu reportedly refused to meet British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during his trip to Israel in mid-August over the UK dropping its objection to the International Criminal Court’s decision on arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.
‘Months of carnage’
Doyle told MEE it was extraordinary that it had taken “11 months of carnage and atrocities” for the government to come to its conclusions. “I wouldn’t be surprised if this was coordinated with the Americans,” Doyle said. “It could well be the timing is not just that parliament has returned, but that Netanyahu is being blamed politically for the failure of ceasefire talks.
“Such moves as an arms ban were held off while there was that chance of a ceasefire. This is an admission that they know that the ceasefire talks have gone nowhere. While in public they blame Hamas, in private they know the Israeli government bears responsibility too.”
According to the Telegraph, a Foreign Office source said the US had been informed of the decision before it was announced. A Biden administration official reportedly said that legal standards over arms sales were different in the UK and that there was no animosity between the two countries.
Meanwhile, the Labour government has come under intense fire from British supporters of Israel’s war on Gaza.