UK: pressure to halt arms sales to Israel

Three former UK Supreme Court judges are among more than 600 legal experts calling for the British government to stop arms sales to Israel, whose war in Gaza has now killed some 33,000 people, mostly civilians and many women and children.

‘The UK Government should suspend licensing arms for export to the Government of Israel,’ said the 17-page letter to UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, signed by former Supreme Court president Lady Hale, ex-Supreme Court justices Lord Sumption and Lord Wilson, along with nine other judges and 69 senior barristers.

‘The UK’s Strategic Export Licencing Criteria (“SELC”) require the UK government to refuse to licence military equipment for export where there “is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law,”’ the letter notes. ‘The same principles apply where arms or military equipment might be used to commit or facilitate acts which constitute genocide.’

The International Court of Justice (‘ICJ’) has ordered Israel to prevent ‘genocide’ in Gaza. Sunak has defended the arms sales, saying the UK has a ‘very careful licensing regime.’