THREE leading rights groups have joined a legal bid to halt British arms sales to Israel after the High Court gave the go-ahead.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam will now add their weight to the ongoing court challenge by Palestinian human rights organisation al-Haq and the Global Legal Action Network (Glan).
The group are calling on High Court to order the Business and Trade Secretary, currently Kemi Badenoch, to suspend all licences to export weapons and military equipment to Israel and to stop issuing new ones.
Al-Haq and Glan applied for a judicial review after the International Court of Justice found it plausible that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, but High Court judges dismissed the case in February.
It was revived again in April and a hearing is expected to take place in October.
Court documents show that the British government conducted five legal assessments of Israel’s compliance with international law between December 18 and April 8, but ministers have refused to publish the advice.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron gave the go-ahead to continue exports just two days after seven World Central Kitchen aid workers were killed by Israeli military action.
New government figures show that Britain issued 108 arms export licences to Israel between October 7, the date of the Hamas attack that sparked the current crisis, and May 31.
A total of 345 licences to sell arms to Israel currently exist. No applications have been rejected or revoked since October.
Amnesty International UK chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said: “Our evidence demonstrates the gap between the Israeli military and political leadership’s policies and practices and their legal obligations and shows how this gap has resulted in Israeli forces repeatedly committing grave breaches of international humanitarian law.
“The UK’s continued sale of components for equipment such as US-made F-35 jets, despite the clear risk that these could be used by Israel in the commission of serious violations of international law, is making a mockery of the UK’s own arms export rules and needs to be stopped as a matter of urgency.”
Human Rights Watch UK director Yasmine Ahmed said: “Time and again, Israel’s official statements, policies and practice are in direct contradiction with international law and the results are clear to see: children in Gaza are dying of starvation and starvation-related illnesses.
“While this decision is, of course, welcome, it is a sorry state of affairs that the case even needed to be brought. We shouldn’t have to drag ministers in front of judges to have them comply with their own laws.”
At least 37,232 people have been killed and 85,037 wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7.
