On 2 September 2024, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament that the government was suspending about 30 out of approximately 350 arms export licences to Israel. The decision was based on a legal review that concluded there was “a clear risk … might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law” in the war in Gaza. David Lamy said, “much of what we send [to Israel] is defensive in nature.”
Hooray! At last the British government does something slightly honorable (sarcasm). It can’t be true can it? No. Of course not.
Using new data from the Israel Tax Authority (ITA), the report by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Progressive International and Workers for a Free Palestine published on Wednesday highlights “a wide range of shipments of military goods, munitions of war, arms, and aircraft parts from the UK to Israel since the war on Gaza began.” The shipments include 150,000 “defensive” bullets!