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Israel: Arms Trade

Question for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

UIN HL941, tabled on 10 September 2024

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs on 2 September (HC Deb cols 37–40), whether they plan to publish a comprehensive list of licences for the sale of arms to Israel that are not covered by the partial suspension announced in that statement.

Answered on

23 September 2024

The UK has some of the most robust export licencing criteria in the world. The Government will not issue export licences if there is a clear risk that the items might be used in violations of International Humanitarian Law. This government has concluded that a clear risk does exist, with regards to certain items. This means that under the Criteria we are required to suspend around 30 licences which we assess could be used in the current conflict in Gaza. This is around a third of the total number of our export licences for equipment to the Israeli military. The remaining licences for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) include trainer aircraft parts, naval equipment, and air defence. Affected exporters have been notified of those suspensions. Further information on the decision to suspend certain export licences to Israel is provided in the Secretary of State for Business and Trade's Written Ministerial Statement [https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-09-02/hcws64].