Although Britain’s political class has stood firmly behind Israel amid its genocide in Gaza, the apartheid state continues to embarrass its allies. In particular, a new report shows Israel recording the entry of 8,630 items of death and destruction from the UK in “four separate shipments… between September 2024 and February 2025”. This was despite the Labour government supposedly banning items the occupying power could use for its war crimes in Gaza.
The UK: still arming Israel despite ban?
The report from Drop Site News notes that the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has “refused to specify what the deliveries contained”. But Israel itself apparently described the imports as “Bombs, Grenades, Torpedoes, Mines, Missiles And Similar Munitions Of War And Parts Thereof”.
528 such items went to Israel in September 2024, 4,500 in November, and 3,602 in January and February 2025.
Drop Site quotes a British government spokesperson saying:
In September, we suspended export licenses to Israel for items used in military operations in Gaza. Our remaining licenses relate to non-military items, military items for civilian use or not for use in military operations in Gaza, or components for items for re-export to other countries.
The outlet also mentions the role that the highly controversial RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus has likely played in helping to supply Israel with the tools it needs to commit war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
What are a few loopholes between colonial powers?
The lucrative business of F-35 fighter jets, which has caused so much death and destruction, marked a highly controversial exemption from Labour’s licence suspensions in 2024. The only condition was that F-35 parts couldn’t go straight from the UK to Israel.
However, it seems the settler-colonial power has received numerous shipments of aircraft parts since the apparent ban. According to defence minister Maria Eagle, “there have been no exports of F-35 parts direct to Israel via RAF Marham since the licensing suspension”. However, as Drop Site mentions:
evidence suggests that these transfers did not stop in September. The import data shows a further thirteen courier shipments of aircraft parts under “Customs Code 88” directly from the UK to Israel taking place from October 2024 to March 2025.
Of these deliveries, Israel described 11 of them as “parts of airplanes, helicopters, or unmanned aircraft”. The other two were “parachutes, parachute accessories, and parts thereof” and “rotor parts”. The DBT reportedly refused to confirm if these related to F-35s.
Serious questions to answer
Former Foreign Office adviser Mark Smith previously revealed efforts under Tory and Labour governments “to suppress inconvenient truths” about UK allies. He spoke about official use of bullying, manipulation, and stonewalling to prolong “complicity with war crimes“.
This month, the High Court “will review the decision-making process of the UK government, and rule whether they have acted unlawfully by continuing to export some arms to Israel”. The judgement will probably come a few months later.
Featured image via the Canary
