Banning UK arms sales to Israel ‘insane’, says Johnson

Potential move is evidence of ‘government madness’ says former prime minister amid ongoing Cabinet row

Political Editor

BORIS JOHNSON has said it would be “insane” to ban arms sales to Israel, despite mounting calls on the Foreign Office to take the step.

The former prime minister argued the move would amount to “government madness” given the Hamas attack on Israel which triggered the Gaza conflict. has talked to two cabinet ministers who are making similar arguments, in a sign of support at the top of Government for not Rishi Sunak’s current stance.

Meanwhile some 400 lawyers sent a letter to Mr Sunak arguing there was “no legal obligation to take actions against Israel”, countering a letter signed by 600 legal figures arguing the opposite this week.

Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, is yet to be convinced that the legal threshold has been met to suspend arms exports because of Israel’s actions in Gaza, according to government sources.

There is a legal mechanism in the UK that requires an arms export ban if it is determined that a country is not showing commitment to international humanitarian law. There have been mounting calls for such a move, with former judicial and security figures among those arguing that the threshold has been reached.

Yesterday Mr Johnson, a former foreign secretary as well as former prime minister, went public arguing against the move in strong terms. Writing in the

he said: “If you want an example of the death wish of Western civilisation, I give you the current proposal from members of the British establishment that this country should ban arms sales to Israel. If you want evidence of government madness, it appears that Foreign Office lawyers are busily canvassing the idea – which has not, as far as I can tell, yet been rejected by the Foreign Secretary himself. He seems to have gone into a kind of purdah on the subject. More alarming still, we are told that an Israeli arms ban is the subject of an active row in Cabinet, with only a handful of ministers positively sticking up for Israel.”

Later in the piece he noted that the UK had kept its “vast” arms deals with Saudi Arabia throughout the war in Yemen. He added: “But it’s not the hypocrisy I mind. It’s the implication: that good, clever, kindly people in this country are actually willing to take away, from Israel, its means of defending its citizens against Hamas.

“That is insane. That is shameful – and the sooner the Government formally denounces the idea, the better.”

Two cabinet ministers made similar arguments to

One said: “We have a proper process for licensing exports. We cannot turn off the tap to Israel when the Iranians are supplying weapons to Hamas. As far as Israel are concerned, they are at war with Palestine. I don’t know how this ends. On a ceasefire, Israel didn’t turn up to one lot of talks and Hamas didn’t turn up to another.”

Another said: “It is very uncomfortable but you can’t have knee jerk reac- tions when something happens in the field of war.”

Mr Sunak outlined his position earlier in the week, saying: “There are a set of rules, regulations and procedures that we’ll always follow, and I have been consistently clear with Benjamin Netanyahu since the start of this conflict that while of course we defend Israel’s right to defend itself and its people against attacks from Hamas, they have to do that in accordance with international humanitarian law, protect civilian lives and, sadly, too many civilians have already lost their lives.”

Melanie Swan

ISRAEL has sacked two soldiers over the bombing of an aid convoy that killed three British ex-servicemen.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) admitted that the strikes on the three vehicles were “in serious violation” of operating procedures according to a report released yesterday.

The IDF claims the unit had incorrectly believed terrorists from Hamas were among the World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy after identifying gunmen on the aid trucks. “After the vehicles left the warehouse where the aid had been unloaded, one of the commanders mistakenly assumed that the gunmen were located inside the accompanying vehicles and that these were Hamas terrorists,” the IDF report stated, calling the attack a “grave incident” and expressed “sorrow” for the lives lost.

The bombing triggered a wave of international condemnation, with warnings that Israel must protect civilians in Gaza or face an arms embargo.

Yesterday, the Israeli military announced that a fire support commander, with the rank of major, and the brigade chief of staff, with the rank of colonel in reserve, have been fired.

Additionally, the brigade commander and the 162nd Division commander will be formally reprimanded along with the commander of the Southern Command.

A statement said the “misidentification” of the three WCK vehicles led the commanders to believe they had Hamas operatives inside them. This “grave mistake” resulted in the death of “seven innocent humanitarian aid workers”. Grainy footage shown at a briefing in Jerusalem of a gunman riding on the roof of a large aid lorry being escorted by the WCK.

According to the BBC, drone footage appeared to confirm that the WCK logos were not visible to the drone operator. Of the attack, Jose Andres, the WCK’s founder, said: “This was not just a bad luck situation ... We were targeted deliberately nonstop until everybody was dead in this convoy.”

Following the report, Lord Cameron said: “We are reviewing the initial findings of Israel’s investigations. Lessons must be learnt from today’s initial findings from the IDF.

“Major reform of Israel’s deconfliction mechanism is badly needed to ensure the safety of aid workers. The deaths of these brave heroes are a tragedy, and this must never happen again.”