Lawyer who took Britain to court over arming Israel celebrates victory

Labour froze some arms sales to Israel the day before it was due back in court to face lawyers from the Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, who were presenting mounting evidence that weapon exports were illegal.

Declassified spoke to their lawyer Dearbhla Minogue about the court room drama behind David Lammy's announcement yesterday.

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GLAN and Al-Haq's challenge over the UK government’s partial suspension of weapons exports licences to Israel is set to continue over glaring legal errors and the exclusion of fighter jet components from yesterday’s decision to revoke arms exports to Israel. Less than 24 hours before a crucial hearing in the High Court the UK’s Foreign Secretary announced that the UK was suspending equipment assessed to be used in the current conflict in Gaza “such as important components which go into military aircraft, including fighter aircraft, helicopters and drones, as well as items which facilitate ground targeting.” However, parts for the F-35 for the global supply programme were exempted from the suspension, even if the government know they could or would end up in Israel’s hands. The government has also failed to include the escalation of violence and violations of international law in the West Bank in its assessment.

GLAN and Al-Haq, who are engaged in on-going litigation on the UK’s failures to halt weapons exports to Israel, will now analyse whether the government is acting in accordance with UK law by exempting the F35 components and will pursue accountability in court.

The deployment of F-35s by Israel has been repeatedly confirmed since the current onset of attacks on Gaza, including their role in dropping 2000lb bombs on densely populated areas. The NGO Danwatch recently linked Israel’s attack on Al-Mawasi ‘safe zone’ which killed 90 people and injured 300 to Israel’s F-35 stealth fighter. By exempting F-35 components the UK has also failed to uphold their duty to prevent genocide, by banning all weapons transfers including all F-35 parts, which they are obliged to do given the influence and leverage it would represent.

The legal groups point out that the UK’s decision was in response to Israel’s restrictions on food and medical supplies and concerns around credible claims of the mistreatment of detainees. In doing so they avoided making any assessments on the legality of the airstrikes, sniper attacks and controlled demolitions. Last month, GLAN and Al-Haq submitted evidence and witness statements to the High Court arguing it is likely that Israel uses information derived from torture to inform targeting decisions and justify attacks on medical personnel and facilities, aid workers and other protected people and objects. By avoiding an assessment of airstrikes the UK is turning a blind eye to flagrant violations of international law, including those that directly implicate the F-35 jet.

While the government plays down the extent of British weaponry exported to the Israeli military the F35 jet's manufacturer Lockheed Martin says that “the fingerprints of British ingenuity can be found on dozens of the aircraft's key components" while the UK Defence Journal estimates them to be 15 per cent British-made.

With evidence of violations ramping up including documented use of children as human shields and demolitions of civilian homes we will be considering whether new and urgent action needs to be taken to ensure no British complicity in Israeli violations.