UK foreign secretary accused of dodging questions over arms exports to Israel
The UK Parliament
Dania Akkad reports in Middle East Eye on 21 February 2024:
Foreign Secretary David Cameron has been accused of dodging questions about UK policy on arms exports to Israel following an exchange of letters with the Foreign Affairs Committee chair.
Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP who leads the influential body, said on Tuesday that Cameron’s response to a 29 January letter had not answered all of her questions and raised further ones.
“It is telling that the [Foreign Office] does not answer our question on how many times export licence applications for Israel have been referred to ministers in the last 12 months,” Kearns commented. “If none have been referred, the government should say so.” Kearns called on the Foreign Office (FCDO) and Department for Business and Trade to be more transparent about how UK arms exports to Israel are being reviewed.
Cameron sent two letters this month to Kearns about Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, which the Foreign Affairs Committee has published this week.
One letter focuses on Israel’s planned military offensive in Rafah. The other deals with UK arms exports to Israel, in response to the letter Kearns sent to Cameron on 29 January, after he had given evidence to the committee in a hearing last month.
Revealing court document
Kearns told Cameron on 29 January that she was writing in light of a document filed by the business department at the High Court, in a claim for a judicial review of the continuance of UK arms sales to Israel.
The document included internal discussions within the Foreign Office and extracts of papers sent to ministers as officials assessed whether Israel had breached international humanitarian law in Gaza. They were also assessing how to advise Cameron regarding UK arms exports to the country.
The British government is obligated, under its arms exporting criteria, to suspend licences for arms exports if it determines that there is a clear risk that British weapons might be used in violations of international law. During the Foreign Affairs Committee session on 9 January, Cameron was pressed repeatedly by Kearns and Scottish National Party MP Brendan O’Hara about whether he had been advised that Israel had breached international law.
Cameron told the committee that he worried Israel might have breached international law and said he had been given advice “consistent with the fact that we have not changed our export procedures”. He did not say whether a formal review had taken place.
The court documents filed by the business department show that the Foreign Office had conducted at least three assessments between 10 November and 8 December.
Cameron also told the committee that the decision on arms export licences was for the business department to make, with advice from the Foreign Office.
But the final decision on whether Israel was committed to complying with the law rested with Cameron, according to the court document, which says he was “satisfied that there was good evidence to support a judgment that Israel is committed to comply with international humanitarian law”.
‘Good evidence’
Kearns highlighted this discrepancy in her letter to Cameron, along with a list of 15 questions.