Calls grow for Rishi Sunak to stop UK arms trade to Israel NOW
Rishi Sunak is under mounting pressure – including from within his own party – to immediately suspend arms sales to Israel amid a growing chorus of opposition to the number of civilians killed in its war on Hamas.
The prime minister faces calls from Tory grandees, hundreds of lawyers, dozens of MPs and peers, as well as top military commanders from across the political spectrum to halt arms exports to the nation.
Mr Sunak has also been urged to exert Britain’s influence on Israel to force a change of approach in how Israel Defence Forces (IDF) conducts the invasion.
Days after the slaughter of seven aid workers, three of them British, The Independent joins the call for the sale of arms to Israel to stop.
Conservative former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said Britain must suspend arms sales to Israel unless it demonstrates an urgent change in the behaviour of the IDF.
The former cabinet minister said unless Israel offers Britain and other backers “credible evidence” that it is changing the instructions being given to its troops, Britain should stop providing it with weapons.
“It is a question of the instructions given to the military as to how much care you have to take to avoid mistakes or collateral damage,” he told The Independent.
“It is very difficult to believe the rules of engagement being used by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), not just in this instance but increasingly over the last few weeks, meet the standard that ought to be applied.”
He said that, without evidence of a change in approach, “it is almost impossible to justify continuing to help them with the provision of arms”.
The Government does not directly supply Israel with weapons. Instead, it grants export licences for British companies to sell arms to the country and can block those sales by suspending the licences.
The UK has taken this course twice before. Margaret Thatcher’s government suspended arms exports following Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, while Tony Blair’s government blocked sales of some military equipment in 2002.
Sir Malcolm, who served in Thatcher and John Major’s governments, said if Israel is not prepared to change course, “then there have to be consequences”.
But the former defence secretary dismissed the idea Israel has deliberately targeted civilians or aid workers as “nonsense”.
He said that in the country’s “understandable zeal” to get rid of every Hamas terrorist, “the precautions any army has to apply to avoid collateral damage are not as rigorous as they should be”.
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