UK firm refuses questions on arms to Israel seized in Belgium

US aerospace company Moog’s UK subsidiary has declined to comment on the seizure of a consignment of military components by Belgian authorities while en route to Israel. According to a statement released by the Walloonian government, the consignment did not bear a declaration that the items were for military use as required by Belgian law and did not have the compulsory ‘transit licence’.

A second UK arms consignment has now also been seized, though the manufacturer of that one has not yet been named. But the UK company involved in the first one has: Moog, specifically its Wolverhampton facility.

Moog: going on for six months

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an industry insider told Skwawkbox that Moog’s shipments had been going on via the Belgian route for at least six months and that it was almost unthinkable that paperwork could be inadvertently completed incorrectly by a company whose business consists of shipping items around the world:

The shipments have been going on for years, but Moog changed its shipping arrangements in July, from FedEx to UPS, which led to the route change. There have been at least nineteen shipments through Belgium since July 2025. They did this at the same time as they were applying for a High Court injunction to stop protest activity at their sites.

Fedex kept on shipping for Moog to other destinations but stopped its Israel shipments. This made Moog change route. Belgium, of course, refuses to ship arms to Israel.

Clearly Moog didn’t declare to the Belgian authorities that the items were for military use. There are other technical descriptions one could use to make it less obvious, and the shipment was consolidated with civilian goods, but Moog was obliged to declare it was ML10 military cargo and they didn’t.

It’s extremely unlikely that Moog could have filled in the paperwork wrongly in error. They would have known about the whole routing before the shipments started, as they are a member of the industry body for arms exports, the Export Group for Aerospace, Defence and Dual-Use (EGADD) – indeed their manager responsible for export control was until recently on EGADD’s Executive Committee.

They would have had to file compliance reports for the Export Control Joint Unit (ECJU) as part of the conditions of their export licence.

Misleading parliament?

Skwawkbox has contacted EGADD for comment. Skwawkbox also contacted Moog. When asked for comment, the Moog employee who took the call said a rapid “No thank you” and hung up.

Who knew what, when, is the key question in this scandal. It appears Moog knew a lot, early – and isn’t happy at being asked about it.

But the knowledge might also extend to Westminster. Clearly, Keir Starmer’s trade minister Chris Bryant is not happy at being asked about it either. Bryant was on 16 April 2026 exposed by Declassified UK misleading Parliament about the shipment and use of such components to Israel.

Bryant knew that Israel can use such parts in its slaughter of Palestinian civilians. Was he – or other government ministers – aware of the illegal routing of Moog and other components to the genocidal IOF? That question remains unanswered.

Featured image via the Canary