Israel, British Jews slam UK's 'hypocritical' decision to suspend arms exports

JERUSALEM – Israeli leaders and British Jews have slammed a U.K. government decision announced on Monday to suspend 30 arms export licenses to Israel over concerns the Jewish state has violated international humanitarian law during its 11-month war against Hamas in Gaza. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move "shameful" in a post on X and said that it would not "change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that savagely murder 1,200 people on Oct. 7, including 14 British citizens." 

The Israeli leader also noted that Hamas was still holding some five British citizens as hostages and expressed disappointment that "instead of standing with Israel, a fellow democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain’s misguided decision will only embolden Hamas."

"Israel is pursuing a just war with just means, taking unprecedented measures to keep civilians out of harm’s way and comporting fully with international law," he wrote.

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Also posting on X, Britain’s Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said that the announcement "feeds the falsehood that Israel is in breach of International Humanitarian Law, when in fact it is going to extraordinary lengths to uphold it," and that it "will serve to encourage our shared enemies."

Coming from such a close ally of Israel, the move has sparked fears that other countries, including the U.S., might follow suit. While others point out that the decision seems symbolic – and even hypocritical – as the British government, which reported overall defense orders totaling nearly $16 billion (12 billion pounds) in 2022, has made no similar move to halt exports to countries with greater human rights violations. 

Rather, the Middle East, with states such as Egypt, Turkey, Qatar as well as Saudi Arabia, which is still engaged in fighting Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen, being among its top arms recipients. 

"Firstly, it's hypocritical and its simply inconsistent," Major (Ret.) Andrew Fox, a Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital. "But more, it's dangerous, because Hamas is so evil, Hamas is so psychotic, and we're sending a message of weakness."

The U.K. sells a relatively small number of weapons to Israel compared to the U.S. and other countries, such as Germany, and withdrawing only 30 of 350 existing export licenses for equipment such as parts for military planes, helicopters and drones is unlikely to impact its ability to fight the war in the Gaza. 

Fox said he believed that the decision was purely "performative," with the newly elected government responding to pressure from the more left-wing elements in its support base – those who have held weekly anti-Israel protests around the country. 

"Israel is a very small recipient of British arms, buying just one percent of its arsenal from the U.K." Jake Wallace Simons, editor of Britain’s Jewish Chronicle, told Fox News Digital. 

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"Countries like Qatar, which sponsors Hamas, Saudi Arabia, which has been fighting a brutal campaign in Yemen, Turkey, which has been massacring the Kurds, and the corrupt Egyptian police state all buy many more British weapons than the Middle East's sole democracy, Israel," he said, adding, "with no evidence that the Jewish state has been breaking international law, this move seems intended to win points with Muslim voters and is harming international alliances at the same time."

Amnesty International, as well as the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, have published in-depth reports on the human rights violations by countries that buy the majority of U.K. arms.

The U.K.'s decision this week also marks a departure from the Biden administration’s approach to the Israel-Hamas war, which started on Oct. 7, when more than 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists infiltrated Israel from Gaza, attacking army bases, residential communities, towns and a massive music festival taking place in the area.  

A veteran of the British army, Fox noted that taking this new stance will weaken the U.K.’s ability to have any influence on the course of the war in Gaza and leave it in a difficult position with other close allies. 

"We will now have no influence in Jerusalem at all," he said. "I think this is embarrassing for the U.K. on a national stage and our other allies will see this behavior and think there's a risk that domestic pressure might affect the U.K. It will also encourage those people who are actively trying to subvert us domestically, like Iran and Russia, because they've seen that it works." 

A request for a comment from British Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s special advisor went unanswered.