In a recent written response to a parliamentary question submitted by Kenny MacAskill, MP for Alba, East Lothian, the UK government disclosed details of military aid sent to Israel since 7 October 2023.
Leo Docherty MP, Minister of State for the Armed Forces, clarified that the assistance comprised non-lethal aid, specifically including medical aid.
“Since 7 October 2023, the UK Government has provided no lethal or military equipment other than medical supplies to Israel.”
The information, referenced from the Hansard record dated 2 May 2024, does not detail the scope or scale of the medical aid provided.
What’s going on?
According to a House of Commons library briefing paper, during the 2023/24 Israel-Hamas conflict, some MPs in the UK Parliament have raised concerns about UK arms exports to Israel, citing a risk that they could be used to violate international humanitarian law. At the International Court of Justice, Israel has also been accused by South Africa of international humanitarian law violations in its military operations in Gaza.
The Secretary of State for Defence, Grant Shapps, says that UK defence exports to Israel are “relatively small,” amounting to £42 million in 2022. Since 2008, the UK has licenced arms worth over £574 million to Israel, according to an analysis of Government export data by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), a UK-based pressure group that seeks an end to the global arms trade. In relation to the current Israel-Hamas conflict, CAAT has highlighted UK industry contributions to F-35 combat aircraft, which CAAT says are “currently being used in the bombardment of Gaza”.
Ministers have responded to such concerns by referencing the UK’s strategic export licencing system, under which all applications for a licence to export military equipment and related items are assessed against a set of criteria, and emphasised Israel’s right to defend itself within the bounds of international humanitarian law. The criteria reflect, among other things, the UK’s obligations under international law, and the potential for the goods to be used in the violation of human rights.
The Government says export licences are kept under review and can be amended, suspended, refused or revoked as circumstances require. The Government undertook a review of existing and pending licences in December 2023.
This briefing, created by the Hosue of Commons Library, explains how licences are granted, information on UK arms exports to Israel and the Government’s review of existing licences to Israel in December 2023.
In fairness shooting down a Drone or Cruise Missile is technically “non-lethal.”
Exactly what I was thinking. How about us shooting down those aimed at UKR? Double standards I think.
Just tell yourself that every missile intercepted flying towards Israel is one missile that wasn’t delivered to Russia.
Puzzled as to why IDF would use F35 in Gaza. Surely they would be more interested in keeping them in reserve for attacks from Iran etc. Besides don’t our supplies date back to a period prior the 7 Oct.
I would assume they use F-16s for Gaza ops and F-35s for Syria and Lebanon ops where they are more likely to encounter SAM systems
The “Aviationist” reports that the F-35 has been used during some close air support missions in Gaza. The IDF is utilizing its sophisticated targeting.
Israeli F-35Is Providing Close Air Support To Troops In Gaza With 2,000-lb Bombs – The Aviationist
What people don’t appear to know is they have have been hoodwinked into allegations of ‘genocide’ in Gaza. by a well coordinated misinformation campaign put in place before this kicked off by pro Hamas crowd and yet despite many signs of disinformation the western media is more than happy to parrot the propaganda from Hamas which was initially aimed at the Islamic crowd in the west, but has found a fertile home within the left of the political centre.
We saw that after the Hospital bombing where the likes of BBC had no problem peddling the line 500 had died , then come daylight and very little damage, no bodies resulting not in retractions , but rather silence
It has now come out in the wash that the Hamas health ministry uses figures of the ‘Genocide’ by adding up figures of dead people from….google. That is not me making this up, that is actual figures. Then there is the constant promotion that women and children represent 70% of the entire death toll. The population % was/is 50% children, 25% Men and 25% Women and yet just look at that we find that Hamas are telling us only 5% men have been killed.
But it gets better, on the 26th of Oct the UN quoted that the cumulative death tool for Gaza (as reported by the Gazan Ministry of health) was 6547.
The next day the UN using the same source (Gazan MOH) cited 7028
So 7028-6547= 481 people were killed in that 24hr period.
And the UN stated that of that 481, 417 were women and 209 were children
417+209 = 626. Hang on that’s 145 more people than actually died. This isn’t me trying to peddle my own misinformation, that data can be found on line from UN websites. Now why the 26th of Oct, because that is when Israel launched its ground invasion of Gaza, so the administration of the Gazan Government was still intact. and yet they are openly inflating casualty figures and not even bothering to ensure that the breakdown of casualties meshes with the total figure they hand over to the UN.
Another example is the claims of mass graves found at a couple of hospitals, all the media have jumped on that claim, yet on the 28th Jan Palestinians reported on twitter that they had just buried 30 people at the Nasser hospital
The IDF when they took these hospitals admitted (its on line) that they dug up these graves and checked the bodies for their DNA and then reburied them, all of this i can find and yet nobody from the media can.
All of this, is used to blindside the sick, lame and lazy in which to force Allies of Israel to cut links. The Scottish National Party is more than happy to promote that agenda. Don’t even start on the Green party in Gipton Leeds.
Thank you for removing my post where I posted actual facts (backed up by UN data) regards the false claims of genocide used by the left of the political centre to demand the West divests from supporting Israel which funny enough is what this thread is about. There’s one of the reasons i have gone back to my own blog regards military matters, where I can go into much greater detail on the subject at hand. So much for the adjective underneath the title.
Farouk, where can we find your blog?