Should Britain And The US Stop Selling Arms To Israel?

If Britain were to suspend arms sales to Israel, it would be joining Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, Spain and Belgium, who have already done so with broad overall public support. However, the value of UK arms exports to Israel is relatively low, amounting to £42m in 2022 out of global arms sales of £70.6bn for that year.

- KIM SENGUPTA

Germany has stated that it will continue with weapons exports for the time being, but it is said to be reviewing an Israeli request for additional tank ammunition as it faces legal action from a citizens' group whose family members are among the casualties in Gaza.

Israel is heavily dependent on US military supplies - all but one of its foreign-made aircraft are American - but Britain supplies 15 per cent of the components of the US-made F-35 warplanes that have been used in Gaza. Campaign Against Arms Trade estimates that work on the 36 F-35s exported to Israel prior to 2023 "has been worth at least £368m to the UK arms industry".

Israel's own arms firm, Elbit Systems, has long been targeted by protesters at its British facilities; the company's premises in Kent were temporarily closed in March after activists blockaded the entrance. Also last month, seven other activists received suspended prison sentences for damage done to the firm's offices in Bristol during a previous protest.

Elbit promotes the Hermes 450, thought to have been used in the deadly attack on a charity convoy, as "the backbone of the IDF", saying it has flown 700,000 operational hours over the years. The company is producing two more advanced models, the Hermes 900 and the Hermes StarLiner, which it hopes will be bestsellers in the international arms market.