THE British government accepts there is a “clear risk” that parts for lethal fighter jets might be used by Israel to violate international humanitarian law but continues to export them anyway, the High Court heard today.
Global Legal Action Network (Glan) and human rights group Al-Haq first brought legal action against the Department for Business and Trade last December, accusing it of breaking its own rules by continuing exports if there is such a risk.
Between October and May, former business secretary Kemi Badenoch approved over 100 licences to Israel throughout its brutal onslaught on Gaza.
In September, the new Labour government eventually moved to ban just 30 out of 361 licences, excluding components for F-35 jets.
Described by its manufacturer Lockheed Martin as the “most lethal" fighter jet in the world, F-35s have been used extensively in Israel’s bloodshed.
Capable of dropping 2,000lb bombs, they are linked to the murder of 90 people in the al-Mawasi “safe zone” in July.
There are 79 companies registered in Britain that hold licences to export parts for the jet.
In a written submission, government lawyers confirmed that Labour’s suspensions were made after Foreign Secretary David Lammy concluded that “Israel had committed possible breaches of IHL [International Humanitarian Law] in relation to humanitarian access and the treatment of detainees.”
The Foreign Office then advised the Department for Business and Trade that there was a “clear risk” of violations.
But the Defence Secretary John Healey said it “is not possible” to suspend F-35 components as it would affect the whole programme, which is part of a global supply chain.
Mr Healey concluded that the disruption “would have a profound impact on international peace and security” and “undermine US confidence in the UK and Nato at a critical juncture in our collective history and set back relations.”
Government lawyer Sir James Eadie said: “The F-35 carveout accepts that there is clear risk that F-35 components might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of IHL, but determines that in the exceptional circumstances outlined by the Defence Secretary, these exports should nonetheless continue.”
The court case is now expected to be heard in January.
Present at court were representatives from Oxfam, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty, which have intervened in the case.
After the hearing, Bushra Khalidi, policy lead for Oxfam for the Occupied Palestinian Territories described the delay as “disappointing.”
“Every single day it’s worse in Gaza,” she said.
“Every day we wake up to more atrocity crimes, more horrors, more death, more violence, more destruction.
“If a ceasefire and a real suspension of arms is not going to happen between now and then, what more are we to see in the next couple of months?”
CND general secretary Sophie Bolt told the Star that the government’s use of carveouts to continue F-35 exports was “shameful” and “shows its complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal said that the government was being “hauled kicking and screaming into court, refusing to do the bare minimum and abide by its moral and legal obligation to end all arms trade with genocidal Israel.”
Ahead of the hearing, Glan lawyer Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe said that the government’s decision to grant export licences stems from a “misunderstanding” of its obligations to prevent genocide under the Genocide Convention.
She cited a “clear example” of this when Mr Lammy suggested last month that Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza because millions of people have not been killed.
In a letter signed by MP Jeremy Corbyn, the Independent Alliance have asked Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to publish any legal advice he has received over the definition of genocide.
Firefighters were due to hold a protest at the Israeli embassy after the Morning Star went to press.
They called for the release of a fire engine donated to Palestinian firefighters, which has been impounded by Israeli authorities.
Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: “It is appalling that life-saving equipment donated by our members is being held by Israeli customs while Palestinian firefighters are in desperate need of resources.”
Israel has dropped more than 70,000 tons of bombs on Gaza, surpassing the total amount dropped on Dresden, Hamburg and London during World War II.
Its genocidal attacks have murdered at least 43,000 Palestinians, although a study in the Lancet medical journal estimates it could reach more than 186,000.
