Lawyers challenging UK arms exports to Israel push on with legal fight
Al-Mawasi displacement camp seen on 14 July 2024, a day after Israeli attacks using F-35 fighter jets that killed at least 90 people
By Dania Akkad reports in Middle East Eye on 3 September 2024:
Two groups challenging UK arms sales to Israel in the High Court say they will push ahead with their case, hours after the UK government imposed a partial suspension of arms exports licences to the country.
Lawyers for the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan) and Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq welcomed the suspension of 30 licences for arms exports announced in parliament on Monday. But in a hearing on Tuesday, they said they were proceeding with their challenge to learn more about how the government came to its decision and that this information will inform their next steps.
In particular, barrister Phillippa Kaufmann said they want to know why UK-made components for F-35 fighter jets, used by Israel in the Gaza offensive, were exempted from the ban.
She suggested the groups intend to apply for an interim relief suspension in future proceedings if they were not satisfied by the government’s reasoning on the F-35 components after analysing documents to be disclosed in coming weeks. If granted, such a suspension would force the government to halt all arms exports to Israel, pending ongoing investigations. Kaufmann also said they were looking at whether any weapons that haven’t been banned could be used in the West Bank, where a major Israeli operation has killed at least 30 Palestinians since last week.
“It’s good to hear that all those components that are prohibited will obviously not be able to be used in Gaza,” she told the court. “But are there other components that will have found their way to the West Bank?”
Jessica Wells, the barrister representing the UK government, told the court that the suspension of items that could be used in Gaza “would be suspended for use in the West Bank”. She emphasised that the urgency of the legal challenge had been “based on the ongoing severe nature of Israel’s attacks in Gaza”. “As I’ve explained, licences for the export of equipments that might be used in such acts have been suspended,” she said.
But Kaufmann argued that the concerns of Glan and Al-Haq remained urgent and active, pointing to a summary of the government’s review that led to the suspension of licences.