Boris Johnson wades into row as UK defends partial Israel arms gross sales ban

A furious row has erupted over the Government’s decision to suspend some arms sales to Israel.

Boris Johnson accused ministers of “abandoning Israel” after Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Monday that the UK has suspended around 30 out of 350 export licences over concerns they could be used in violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza. The former PM tweeted: “Do they want Hamas to win?”

UK Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said the decision “beggars belief” after six Israeli hostages were found dead in a tunnel in Gaza at the weekend. Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu described the move as “shameful” and questioned the timing of the announcement following the murder of the hostages.

But independent MP Zarah Sultana said the Government should go further and ban all arms sales, particularly parts for F-35 fighter jets which have not been exempted. Her concern was echoed by Amnesty International UK’s chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said: “While this decision appears to demonstrate that the UK has finally accepted the very clear and disturbing evidence of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, it’s unfortunately too limited and riddled with loopholes.”

Amid a backlash from all sides, Defence Secretary John Healey insisted the UK’s support for Israel was “unshakeable” but it had a duty to follow the law. He told Times Radio: “It will not have a material impact on Israel’s security.”

He added: “As I said to the defence minister Yoav Gallant yesterday when I spoke to him before the announcement, we have a duty to follow the law, but this does not alter our unshakable commitment to support Israel’s right to self-defence and to the defence of Israel if it comes under direct attack again, just as UK jets back in April helped intercept Iranian drones and missiles that were targeted directly at Israeli civilians.”

Mr Healey said Mr Gallant “found the call unwelcome”, adding: “That’s not surprising, but sometimes your closest friends are the ones that need to tell the hardest truths.”

On Monday, the Foreign Secretary told MPs that a review conducted by the UK Government could not “arbitrate on whether or not Israel has breached international humanitarian law” in Gaza, but ministers have a legal duty to review export licences. The UK Government says military exports to Israel are “relatively small”, amounting to around £42million ($53million) in 2022. The US is by far the biggest supplier to Israel, sending £3billlion ($3.8billion) in annual military aid under a 10-year agreement.

Mr Healey said the Government had to act following the review findings under its legal obligations amid criticism on the timings of the announcement. Asked to respond to Mr Johnson’s comments, he told the BBC: “This is a Government with a duty to the rule of law. This is not a decision about pleasing any side in this.”

Sir Ephraim, the UK’s Chief Rabbi, said in a post on X: “It beggars belief that the British Government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licences at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its very survival on seven fronts forced upon it on the 7th October, and at the very moment when six hostages murdered in cold blood by cruel terrorists were being buried by their families.

“As Israel faces down the threat of Iran and its proxies, not just to its own people, but to all of us in the democratic west; this announcement feeds the falsehood that Israel is in breach of international humanitarian law, when in fact it is going to extraordinary lengths to uphold it. “Sadly, this announcement will serve to encourage our shared enemies.”

Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, criticised the decision as sending a “terrible message” in Israel’s “hour of need”. He told the BBC: “It is the wrong decision taken very much at the wrong time.”

Government documents show key factors in the decision include “insufficient” humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, and reports of the mistreatment of detainees. Summary papers said: “Israel has not fulfilled its duty as Occupying Power to ensure – to the fullest extent of the means available to it – those supplies essential to the survival of the population of Gaza. It has concluded that the level of aid remains insufficient.”

It also said there “have been credible claims of the mistreatment of detainees” at a “volume and consistency” which suggest “at least some instances of mistreatment contrary to IHL” (international humanitarian law).

But the Government suggested that it had not been possible to come to a “determinative judgment” on “allegations regarding Israel’s conduct of hostilities”, partly because of the “opaque and contested information environment in Gaza”.