UK MPs summoned over potential loopholes in Israel arms exports rules
A Palestinian flag flaps by the message ‘Stop bombs’ projected on the Elizabeth Tower, underneath Big Ben, at the Palace of Westminster during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Parliament Square in London on 21 February 2024
The Palestine Chronicle reports on 21 May 2025:
Three UK ministers responsible for arms exports to Israel have been summoned by parliament’s export oversight committee to explain possible loopholes in the rules, the Guardian reported on Wednesday.
“We have questions about the department’s export licensing statistics released on 15 May which indicate that the UK approved licenses for ￡127.6 million worth of military equipment to Israel in single issue licenses between October to December 2024,” Liam Byrne, the chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee, said in a letter addressed to the Trade Minister Douglas Alexander.
“I understand this is greater than the combined total for 2020-23,” he added.
Byrne has ordered Alexander and the relevant ministers from the Foreign Office and Ministry of Defence to offer urgent explanations, the report noted.
Suspension of Licenses
Byrne said “these licences were approved after the Foreign Secretary’s announcement on 2 September 2024, in which he told the House that the Government had suspended licenses for ‘equipment that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza, such as important components that go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items that facilitate ground targeting’,” citing the House of Commons Official Report, September 2, 2024.