Gaza: Lawyers challenging British arms exports to Israel continue legal battle

Two groups challenging British arms sales to Israel in the Supreme Court are set to pursue their case further, just hours after the British government imposed a partial suspension of licenses for arms exports to the country.

Lawyers from the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan) and the Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq welcomed the suspension of 30 arms export licenses announced in Parliament on Monday.

But at a hearing on Tuesday, they said they would pursue their lawsuit to learn more about how the government reached its decision, and that information would determine their next steps.

In particular, they wanted to know why British-made components for the F-35 fighter jets that Israel uses in the Gaza offensive were exempt from the ban, said lawyer Phillippa Kaufmann.

She indicated that the groups intend to seek an injunction in future proceedings if, after analyzing the documents to be disclosed in the coming weeks, they are not satisfied with the government's reasoning on the F-35 components.

If approved, such a suspension would force the government to halt all arms exports to Israel until the investigations are completed.

Kaufmann also said they were examining whether banned weapons could also be used in the West Bank, where at least 30 Palestinians have been killed in a large-scale Israeli operation since last week.

“It is good to hear that all prohibited components are apparently not allowed to be used in Gaza,” she told the court.

“But are there other components that have found their way into the West Bank?”

Jessica Wells, the British government's lawyer, told the court that the suspension on the import of items that could be used in Gaza “would be lifted for use in the West Bank”.

She stressed that the urgency of the lawsuit was based on “the continued severity of Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip.”

“As I have already explained, licenses for the export of equipment that could be used for such acts have been suspended,” she said.

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However, Kaufmann argued that Glan and Al-Haq's concerns remained urgent and timely, pointing to a summary of the government's review that led to the suspension of the licenses.

The government concluded that Israel had failed to ensure that sufficient humanitarian aid reached the Gaza Strip and that there were credible allegations of mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.

However, it said that despite the numerous casualties in the conflict, it was not in a position to “make a final judgment on the allegations regarding hostilities by Israel”.

Kaufmann said it was possible that Britain's assessment on these two issues could change in the future, although serious concerns about Israel's behavior remained.

“That is why our complaint remains,” she said. “We believe that the urgency absolutely remains, especially because these decisions are made on a regular basis.”

At the end of the hearing, the parties agreed on a timetable that would require the government to disclose to the groups the information underlying its assessments over the next two months.

“Backed into a corner”

Glan and Al-Haq had told the government in a letter dated 30 August, seen by Middle East Eye, that they would seek a binding order that would have resulted in a complete halt to British arms exports to Israel until the investigation was completed.

Glan's lawyers told MEE they decided to take this urgent action following several developments in recent weeks, including the resignation of a Foreign Ministry official over arms sales to Israel and the Israeli invasion of the West Bank.

“The government has taken an important step, but now it must do much, much more”

-Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe, Glan

A few hours before they were due to apply for the order on Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the suspension of the 30 licenses.

Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe, a lawyer at Glan, told MEE the government had been “backed into a corner and had no choice but to stop arms sales”.

“The evidence we have presented throughout the proceedings, most recently on August 16, has shown that it is clearly irrational to continue to send arms exports to Israel without restrictions,” Andrews-Briscoe said.

“This should have happened ten months ago. The government has taken an important step, but it must now do much, much more to fulfil its obligations under the duty to prevent genocide.”

MEE asked the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Economy and Trade late Tuesday whether Glan and Al-Haq's legal threat had provoked Monday's announcement.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs declined to comment on ongoing legal disputes.

A State Department spokesman said: “This is not correct. The timing of this decision was driven by the review process and the law.”

“The Foreign Minister committed to reviewing arms exports by the opposition and during the election campaign.

“As soon as he took office, he tasked officials with conducting a comprehensive review of arms exports to Israel and committed to returning to the House of Representatives once that process was complete.”

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for November 18.