Britain is to suspend a proportion of arms sales to Israel
The Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced this afternoon in the House of Commons that 30 licenses, including components for fighter planes,helicopters and drones will be immediately put on hold
The announcement follows a review commissioned by Labour after its July election victory
“Facing a conflict such as this, it is this government’s legal duty to review Britain’s export licenses. This is not a blanket ban. This is not an arms embargo,“ he said adding that
“there is a clear risk that they could be used to ‘facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian laws’
The move comes on the day that a general strike hit the country with workers protesting against the Israeli Government’s failure to agree a hostage swap with HAMAS after the bodies of six executed hostages were found by Israeli forces at the weekend
Meanwhije U.S. President Joe Biden said he didn’t think Netanyahu was doing enough to secure a hostage deal
“Hope springs eternal,” Biden said when asked if a hostage deal he was formulating would be successful.
