Netanyahu condemns ‘shameful’ partial suspension of British arms exports to Israel

Britain has suspended around 30 of a total of 350 licences after a review found there was a risk that their use could violate international humanitarian law.

Mr Netanyahu’s office said: “Britain’s misguided decision will only encourage Hamas.”

A statement posted on the Israeli Prime Minister’s X-Account said: “Days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, the British government suspended thirty arms licenses for Israel.

“This shameful decision will not change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that brutally murdered 1,200 people, including 14 British citizens, on October 7.

“Hamas still holds over 100 hostages, including five British citizens. Rather than standing with Israel, a democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain’s misguided decision will only embolden Hamas.”

The decision has placed a heavy strain on Britain’s relationship with Tel Aviv.

Defense Secretary John Healey informed his counterpart Yoav Gallant of the decision before the announcement on Monday.

Mr Healey told Times Radio that Mr Gallant “found the call unwelcome”.

“It’s not surprising, but sometimes it’s the closest friends who have to tell the hardest truths.”

Leading representatives of the Jewish community in the United Kingdom also condemned the decision.

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said the decision was “incredible” at a time when “six hostages murdered in cold blood by cruel terrorists have been buried by their families”.

Phil Rosenberg, chairman of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, criticised the decision, calling it a “terrible message” in Israel’s “hour of need”.

The list of suspended items includes critical components for military aircraft, including F-16 jets and drones, as well as naval systems and target acquisition equipment.

Mr Healey said Britain’s decision would “have no significant impact on Israel’s security”.

“As I said yesterday in my conversation before the announcement with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, we have a duty to follow the law. However, this does not change our unwavering commitment to support Israel’s right to self-defense and the defense of Israel should it again face direct attack. Just as British jets helped intercept Iranian drones and missiles aimed directly at Israeli civilians in April.”

Announcing the suspension on Monday, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said a review carried out by the British government could not determine “whether or not Israel has breached international humanitarian law in Gaza”. However, ministers were legally obliged to review export licences.

Mr Healey said the results of that review and the Government’s legal obligations were responsible for the widely criticised timing of the announcement.

Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Sir Ephraim said: “It is hard to believe that the British Government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licenses at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its survival on seven fronts, imposed on it on October 7, and at the very moment when six hostages murdered in cold blood by cruel terrorists have been buried by their families.

“As Israel confronts the threat posed by Iran and its proxies that affects not only its own people but all of us in the democratic West, this announcement feeds the falsehood that Israel is violating international humanitarian law, when in reality the country is making extraordinary efforts to uphold it.

“Sadly, this announcement will serve to embolden our mutual enemies.”

Mr Rosenberg told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “On the day that these wonderful people were buried and abducted from a music festival like Reading or Glastonbury, Britain has chosen to send a signal that it wants to punish Israel. And that sends a terrible, terrible message both to Israel in its hour of need and to Hamas in terms of the consequences. There are consequences for the terrible actions of Hamas as a terrorist organisation, but also for other allies and adversaries around the world.”

“So it is a wrong decision made at the wrong time.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said it was the latest in a series of decisions that had caused concern in Tel Aviv, including the resumption of British funding for the UNRWA humanitarian agency in Gaza and the decision not to contest the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) request for an arrest warrant against Netanyahu.

“A step like the one Britain has now taken sends a very problematic message to the terrorist organization Hamas and its supporters in Iran,” he said.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson questioned why Mr Lammy and Sir Keir Starmer “abandoned Israel”, asking: “Do they want Hamas to win?”

The government’s decision was based, among other things, on the “inadequate” humanitarian aid for the population of the Gaza Strip and reports of the mistreatment of prisoners, according to a summary of the measures initiated by the ministers.

Summaries published by the government say the assessment on which Mr Lammy based his decision was: “Israel has failed in its duty as an occupying power to ensure, within the means at its disposal, the supply of essential supplies to the population of Gaza.”

“It concluded that the level of aid remains inadequate.”

It went on to say that there had been “credible allegations of ill-treatment of prisoners” on a “scale and with a consistency” that “in at least some cases suggested ill-treatment contrary to international humanitarian law.”

However, the government said it had not been possible to reach a “final conclusion” on the “allegations of hostilities by Israel”, partly due to the “opaque and controversial information situation in the Gaza Strip”.