FALCON POWERS – British Foreign Secretary David Cameron stated on Sunday that halting arms exports to Israel is “not a wise path” and will only strengthen Hamas.
Responding to a question about whether the United Kingdom would follow the United States’ footsteps in threatening to halt supplies of offensive weapons to Israel if it launched an attack on the city of Rafah, Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that comparing the two countries would not be fair because the UK, unlike the United States, provides a very small quantity of weapons to Israel. Here are the key points from Cameron’s statements to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on Sunday:
- The United Kingdom provides less than 1% of weapons to Israel, and it is not a government supplier.
- We have a licensing system, and these licenses can be revoked if there is a serious risk of grave human rights violations.
- The United Kingdom did not support a major attack in Rafah without a clear plan on how to protect civilians.
- Deploying British forces on the ground in Gaza as part of international aid efforts would be a risk that we should not take.
- Putting British soldiers on the beach is not actually a good step. Instead, it is likely that aid would be delivered by a contractor.
The US government stated on Friday that Israel’s use of weapons provided by the United States in Gaza likely violates international humanitarian law. However, it pointed out that the conditions of war prevented US officials from definitively determining this in specific airstrikes.
The opposition Labour Party in Britain and human rights groups argue that the United Kingdom should adopt a similar stance and halt the sale of weapons or British-made components for participation in the attack on Rafah.
The non-profit group “Campaign Against Arms Trade” estimates that the true value of the United Kingdom’s arms exports to Israel is at least £1 billion since 2015, which is significantly higher than government figures.
