A writer for a noted British online newspaper has urged its country to reconsider its arms sales to Israel to avoid being involved in violating the international law noting that its military and security equipment is used to suppress peaceful protesters.
“The UK frequently boasts about having ‘the most robust export controls in the world.’ Arms export licence applications are considered on a case-by-case basis against a list of criteria setting out that they should be refused if there is even a risk that the equipment would be used for ‘internal repression’ ‘to assert by force a territorial claim’ or in violations of international law” writer for the Independent newspaper Ryvka Barnard said last Tuesday.
“These criteria provide a textbook description of core elements of Israel’s occupation and militarised repression of Palestinians. If these criteria were actually applied it would result in a de facto arms embargo on Israel” Barnard underlined.
“The continued licensing of arms export to Israel then and failure to review them means that the UK government is acting against its own policies and knowingly providing what may be material support for war crimes” the writer added.
She said that “the UK cannot pretend to be a neutral arbiter watching from a distance and hoping for peace when it is actively arming the perpetrator of violence and criminality” she stressed.
“With more Palestinian protests due in the coming weeks the UK government’s choice is clear: either suspend arms sales to Israel or prepare to defend its complicity in the violence and war crimes surely to come” she highlighted further.
