Defence Secretary John Healey told his Israeli counterpart that the British government was following the law in suspending around 30 arms export licences over the Gaza conflict.
The Cabinet minister explained how he had made an “unwelcome” phone call to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to tell him of the UK government’s move to restrict military exports.
Mr Healey stressed that the move would not have a “material” impact on Israel’s security.
He told Times Radio: “It’s important that this Government has a duty and does follow the law.
“But as I said to the Defence Minister Yoav Gallant when I spoke to him before the announcement...we have a duty to follow the law but this does not alter our unshakeable commitment to support Israel’s right to self-defence and to the defence of Israel if it comes under direct attack again...just as UK jets back in April helped to intercept Iranian drones and missiles targeted directly at Israeli civilians.”
Mr Gallant responded to the move by Britain with a message on X: “Deeply disheartened to learn of the sanctions placed by the U.K. Government on export licenses to Israel’s defense establishment.”
Asked about his response, Mr Healey said: “He found the call unwelcome. That’s not surprising.
“But you know sometimes your closest friends are the ones that need to tell the hardest truths.
“I said that this is a Government that will follow the rule of law.
“That is why the Foreign Secretary was going to make the announcement that we would suspend licences for about 30 components that go into equipment that could be linked to a breach of international humanitarian law in the conflict in Gaza.
“But I also made really clear that we remain totally resolute to support Israel and to support Israel in its defence if it comes under direct attack.”
Mr Healey denied that the partial ban was a “political gesture” to appease Labour MPs, some of who want a full ban.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Monday that the Government had concluded, after a review, there was a “clear risk” some items could be used to “commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
He told MPs the decision related to about 30 of 350 existing export licenses for equipment “that we assess is for use in the current conflict in Gaza,” including parts for military planes, helicopters and drones, along with items used for ground targeting.
Mr Lammy explained: “It is with regret that I inform the House today that the assessment I have received leaves me unable to conclude anything other than that, for certain UK arms exports to Israel, there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”
The decision wasn’t “a determination of innocence or guilt” about whether Israel had broken international law, and wasn’t an arms embargo, he added.
Israeli forces over the weekend recovered the bodies of six hostages, including 23-year-old American Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin, from a tunnel in Gaza.
Israel’s military said they were recently killed by Hamas terrorists.
Phil Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, on Tuesday criticised the UK Government's decision to suspend some arms sales to Israel as sending a "terrible message" in the country's "hour of need".
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: "On the day that those beautiful people were being buried, kidnapped from a music festival like Reading or Glastonbury, the UK decides to send a signal that it's Israel that it wants to penalise, and that is a terrible, terrible message to be sending both to Israel in its hour of need, also to Hamas about the consequences - where consequences are for the horrific actions that Hamas has taken as a terrorist organisation, but also to other allies and adversaries around the world.
"So it is the wrong decision taken very much at the wrong time."
Former British diplomat and national security adviser Lord Peter Ricketts said the Government's decision to suspend some arms exports to Israel was made to protect the "integrity" of the UK's arms export system rather than pressurise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike a deal on the hostages and to end the conflict.
Lord Ricketts told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "They've gone into this thoroughly, and they've concluded that although they can't pin individual weapons systems to individual acts in Gaza - because there aren't the number of observers on the ground to see it - they've reached a conclusion that there are certain weapons where there is a clear risk that if they were supplied, they would be used in a way that breaches international humanitarian law.
"And that is one of the conditions in the licenses that we serve to all countries that get British arms.
"So I think their move is about the integrity of the arms export system, rather than any hope that it might change Netanyahu's mind, which it clearly won't."
Britain currently has approved around 350 military licences for items to be sent to Israel.
The UK’s Strategic Export Licensing Criteria states that a country’s commitment and compliance to IHL has to be assessed in three categories:
* Humanitarian provision and access
* Conduct of the military campaign
The UK review assessed that there may be possible breaches in IHL in humanitarian access and treatment of detainees.
There was found to be a lack of sufficient verifiable evidence on the conduct of the military operations to be able to assess whether possible breaches of IHL had been made in this area but the scale of the destruction and the number of civilian deaths had caused great concern.
Britain is among a number of Israel’s longstanding allies whose governments are under growing pressure to halt weapons exports because of the toll of the nearly 11-month-old conflict in Gaza.
More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, which doesn’t distinguish between militants and civilians in its toll.
The war broke out on October 7 after Hamas terrorists and others stormed into Israel and killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 people hostage. Roughly 100 hostages remain in Gaza, a third of whom are believed to be dead.
British firms sell a relatively small amount of weapons and components to Israel compared to major suppliers such as the U.S. and Germany. Earlier this year, the government said military exports to Israel amounted to £42 million in 2022.
But the UK is one of Israel’s closest allies, so the decision carries some symbolic significance.
