UK Faces Fresh Calls to End Arms Sales to Zionist Regime

Date: 30 June 2020 - 21:53

News ID: ۸۰۰۹۲

LONDON (Dispatches) – The UK is facing fresh calls to end its arms sale to the Zionist regime amidst international outrage over the regime’s planned annexation of Palestinian territory which is considered a war crime under international law.
Number 10 has expressed its opposition to any further take-over of Palestinian territory, however campaigners, warning that the Conservative government risks being complicit in the occupying regime’s war crimes, have expressed concerns that the UK will continue with business as usual by selling arms to the occupying regime.
Britain is said to have licensed £376 million ($462 million) worth of arms to the regime since 2015, according to the human rights organization Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).
Previous government reviews have concluded that it likely that UK-made arms have been used against Palestinians.
Campaigners have called on the UK government to stop all arms sales and military support for the occupying regime. This comes as Zionist troops prepare to begin the annexation of large parts of the West Bank. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has condemned the plan and called it illegal.
Despite ongoing abuses against besieged Palestinian communities and the threat of annexation looming, UK arms sales to the regime have continued unabated.
According to a CAAT report, the $462 million worth of arms sold to the Zionist regime is an underestimate as there are also 31 Open Licences to the regime. These are mainly for aircraft equipment. Open Licences allow for an unlimited number of exports, so the real figure is said to be significantly higher.
CAAT revealed that a review by the government found 12 licences for arms which are likely to have been used in the 2014 bombardment of Gaza. Likewise, in 2010 the then Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that UK-made arms had "almost certainly” been used in the 2009 bombing campaign.