Shadow Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell told the Mail that the move was “bizarre” in light of Iran’s recent threats against Israel and escalations on Israel’s northern border…reports Asian Lite News
The government has reportedly caused outrage by implementing a “secret arms embargo” on Israel, according to a Friday exclusive by The Daily Mail.
The Mail reported that civil servants had paused applications for new weapons export licenses pending UK Foreign Minister David Lammy’s review of whether war crimes were carried out during the offensive against Hamas.
According to the exclusive, Lammy will not announce a decision until later this summer, a months-long delay.
The pause in licensing also prevents military radios and body armor from being sent out.
“It means any new license requests are put into Room 101 indefinitely,” an anonymous source told the Mail. “For years, the Labour Left have sought to halt all arms exports to Israel, and now they have the levers of power, it seems it’s the first thing they have done.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell told the Mail that the move was “bizarre” in light of Iran’s recent threats against Israel and escalations on Israel’s northern border.
“Our close ally Israel is under direct threat from Hezbollah, who murdered 12 children in a missile attack last weekend. Just recently, British arms and military personnel were deployed to protect Israel from a direct assault by Iran,” Mitchell continued.
Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of UK forces in Afghanistan, described the move as a “secret arms embargo” and slammed the government for its decision.
“‘It is disgraceful Labour have said they’re doing one thing, reviewing the situation, and at the same time imposing what is effectively an arms embargo on Israel,” Kemp said.
Britain’s greater readiness to impose an export ban is connected in part to Israel’s refusal to allow visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross to the Sde Teiman detention facility, where Palestinian prisoners are detained. Lawyers for the UK government visited Israel recently to underline Britain’s position that denying access to the Red Cross was a violation of the Geneva conventions. According to the Yedioth Ahronoth daily newspaper, the then foreign secretary David Cameron warned Israel that the continued denial of access could result in a Europe-wide arms embargo. Cameron also became increasingly frustrated over Israel’s lack of cooperation in allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza.
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