Key points
- UK govt accused of breaching international law
- Rights bodies say arms directly used in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza
- Israel carrying out genocide in Gaza: rights groups
ISLAMABAD: Rights groups and NGOs are dragging the UK government to court on Tuesday, accusing it of breaching international law by supplying fighter jet parts to Israel amid the war in Gaza.
Supported by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam and others, the Palestinian rights association Al-Haq is seeking to stop the government’s export of UK-made components for Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets.
Israel has used the American warplanes to devastating effect in Gaza and the West Bank, and the head of Amnesty UK said Britain had failed to uphold its “legal obligation… to prevent genocide” by allowing the export of key parts to Israel.
The plane’s refuelling probe, laser targeting system, tyres, rear fuselage, fan propulsion system and ejector seat are all made in Britain, according to Oxfam, and lawyers supporting Al-Haq’s case said the aircraft “could not keep flying without continuous supply of UK-made components”.
Long-running legal battle
It is not clear when a decision could be made following the four-day hearing at London’s High Court, the latest stage in a long-running legal battle.
Lawyers for the Global Action Legal Network (GLAN) have said they launched the case soon after Israel’s onslaught on Gaza.
The lawyers said the UK government had decided in December 2023 and April and May 2024 to continue arms sales to Israel, before in September 2024 then suspending licenses for weapons which were assessed as being for military use by the Israeli army in Gaza.
Partial ban
The new Labour government suspended around 30 licences following a review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law, but the partial ban did not cover British-made parts for the advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets.
A UK government spokesperson told AFP it was “not currently possible to suspend licensing of F-35 components for use by Israel without prejudicing the entire global F-35 programme, due to its strategic role in NATO and wider implications for international peace and security”.
“Within a couple of months of coming to office, we suspended relevant licences for the IDF that might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of International Humanitarian Law in Gaza,” they said.
“Loophole”
But GLAN described the F-35 exemption as a “loophole” which allowed the components to reach Israel indirectly through a global pooling system.
Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe, a lawyer for GLAN, told a briefing last week the UK government had “expressly departed from its own domestic law in order to keep arming Israel”, with F-35s being used to drop “multi-ton bombs on the people of Gaza”.
The health ministry in Gaza said on Monday that at least 2,749 people have been killed since Israel ended a two-month ceasefire in mid-March, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,862.
Genocide Convention
“Under the Genocide Convention, the UK has a clear legal obligation to do everything within its power to prevent genocide,” said Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s chief executive.
“Yet the UK government continues to authorise the export of military equipment to Israel — despite all the evidence that genocide is being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza. This is a fundamental failure by the UK to fulfil its obligations.”
Al-Haq’s general director Shawan Jabarin said: “The United Kingdom is not a bystander. It’s complicit, and that complicity must be confronted, exposed and brought to account.”
Critical risk of famine
A UN-backed hunger monitor warned that the entire Palestinian population in Gaza is at critical risk of famine, while 500,000 people face starvation, Al Jazeera reported.
Hamas released Israeli-American captive Edan Alexander from Gaza after a deal was reached directly with the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Israel is sending a delegation to Qatar on Tuesday to discuss the release of additional captives held in Gaza.
UN agencies and human rights groups have renewed their calls for Israel to end its Gaza blockade, stressing that Palestinians are already dying from a lack of food and other critical supplies.
