UK – Selling Arms to Israel Despite Many Warnings

JVL Introduction

Channel 4, a mainstream UK outlet has broadcast a documentary demonstrating that the UK governments were warned on many occasions that Israel was “possibly” acting in violation of International Humanitarian Law.  UK viewers can see the documentary for a limited period: Watch Britain’s Gaza Secrets Exposed. It makes for chilling viewing.  At one point Ramita Navai visits the parents of one of the three British volunteers killed in the 2024 strike on the World Central Kitchen Convoy. Two days after that attack and before Israel had had time to carry out the promised investigation, the then Foreign Secretary, Lord David Cameron,  said that it would be against UK interests to stop selling arms. The parents were very shocked by that and, indeed, an Inquest has been opened and lawyers want to know whether British arms were used in that attack.

Even the government recognised that in terms of not allowing (anything like sufficient) humanitarian aid to reach the people under bombardment and siege, that International Humanitarian Law (IHL) was “possibly” being violated.  But although such recognition should require action , nothing changed.  The ongoing refusal to recognise even the possibility that a genocide is taking place – or even is at risk of taking place – is surely also because prevention of genocide is also a legal obligation on countries, like the UK, that have signed the Genocide Convention. This explicit failure to do so marred much of the good in Ed Miliband’s introduction of limited sanctions.  A government assessment in June 2024 “stated that it was “uncontentious” that the physical components of genocide were present in Gaza…” but did not change its policy on the basis that “genocidal intent on Israel’s part had not been established”.

The expert in IHL who was interviewed – and who is descended from Holocaust survivors – said that the  methodology used for the various reports was biased towards Israel.

There is much more and this article outlines some of the key issues.

This article was originally published by The New Arab on Fri 25 Sep 2026. Read the original here.