‘Misleading the Public’ – UK Sent Arms to Israel despite Suspension

May 7, 2025 News
A new report reveals that the UK has sent thousands of military items to Israel, despite a government suspension last September. (Design: Palestine Chronicle)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

“On the basis of the evidence in this report it appears that David Lammy has misled Parliament and the public about arms shipments to Israel.”

From October 2023 to March 2025, the United Kingdom has sent thousands of military items to Israel, including arms and aircraft parts, despite a government suspension last September, a new report has found.

Using new data from the Israel Tax Authority (ITA), the report by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Progressive International and Workers for a Free Palestine published on Wednesday highlights “a wide range of shipments of military goods, munitions of war, arms, and aircraft parts from the UK to Israel since the war on Gaza began.”

It also finds evidence that “the pattern of UK-Israel courier shipments of aircraft parts is unchanged despite the official ban on direct F-35 component exports in September 2024.”

Classifications of Items

The report said that data show shipments of items that fall under the classifications of:

  • ‘Bombs, Grenades, Torpedoes, Mines, Missiles And Similar Munitions Of War And Parts Thereof’
  • ‘Parts and accessories of revolvers or pistols’
  • ‘Parts and accessories of shotguns and rifles’
  • ‘Rocket launchers; flame-throwers; grenade launchers; torpedo tubes and similar projectors’
  • ‘Tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, motorised whether or not fitted with weapons, and parts of such vehicles’

“ITA import data indicate that 14 shipments of military items were made from the UK to Israel since October 2023,” the report said.

The data also showed that “at least 11 shipments by air to Ben Gurion Airport and one maritime delivery to Haifa carried over 160,000 items from the UK to Israel.”

Most of these shipments “occurred after the UK government’s suspension of around 30 arms export licences” to Israel in September 2024.

150,000 Bullets

The data show that “the UK has sent 8,630 separate munitions since the suspensions took effect, all in the category ‘Bombs, Grenades, Torpedoes, Mines, Missiles And Similar Munitions Of War And Parts Thereof –Other’.

Evidence also shows the UK shipped 150,000 bullets to Israel in October 2023, the report noted.

In addition to weapons and ammunition, “evidence shows six shipments of 299 items under customs code 87100000, which the ITA identifies as ‘Tanks and other armored fighting vehicles, motorised, whether or not fitted with weapons, and parts of such vehicles.’

Lammy’s Assertions ‘Untrue’

The report cited British Foreign Secretary David Lammy as having stated in the House of Commons that “much of what we send [to Israel] is defensive in nature.”

“It is not what we describe routinely as arms,” he is quoted as saying and having asserted that he “[does] not think anyone would suggest that we should not sell a helmet or goggles to one of our closest allies.’”

‘Not a Blanket Ban’ – UK Suspends 30 Arms Export Licences to Israel 

“However, the evidence outlined in this report shows that, since October 2023, the UK has sent thousands of goods to Israel which are defined as arms and ammunition and go far beyond helmets and goggles – proving that David Lammy’s suggestion that UK exports are not what would be routinely described as arms is untrue and misleading,” the report said.

It stated that “On the basis of the evidence in this report it appears that David Lammy has misled Parliament and the public about arms shipments to Israel.

Export of F-35 Parts

The report further added that David Lammy, Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, and other ministers “have also repeatedly claimed” that the government has ended direct exports of parts for F-35 jets to Israel since the partial arms export suspension was introduced in September 2024.

“When announcing the suspension, the government admitted that shipping components for F-35 jets directly to Israel would present a ‘clear risk’ of contributing to Israel’s violations of international law,” it noted.

“However, the evidence suggests that direct shipments of F-35 components from the UK to Israel have been ongoing despite the suspensions. By the government’s own admission, this would put the government at ‘clear risk’ of enabling Israel’s violations of international law and therefore violating UK obligations under international law,” the report emphasized.

It stressed that “Ministers have misled the public and parliament, the government has failed to be transparent, and the UK is not upholding its obligations under international law.”

The organizations called on the UK government to “release a complete account of these shipments that permits a thorough investigation of UK arms traffic to Israel.”

Government Urged to Respond

Former leader of the Labour Party and independent MP, Jeremy Corbyn, said on X that the government “is yet to respond to our call for a public inquiry into the UK’s involvement in the war on Gaza.”

“This shocking report by @ProgIntl, @palyouthmvmt & @Workers4Palcould explain why. When will the government come clean about the reality of arms exports to Israel?” he added.

Former Labour shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said on X that “David Lammy needs to come to Parliament to respond to this report & explain how his & other ministers’ statements to Parliament assuring MPs that arms sales to Israel had ended when this evidence demonstrates a huge scale of arms being supplied.”

The Guardian newspaper quotes a Foreign Office spokesperson as having said that the government “has suspended relevant licences” for the Israeli army “that might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza.

“Of the remaining licences for Israel, the vast majority are not for the Israeli Defence Forces but are for civilian purposes or re-export, and therefore are not used in the war in Gaza. The only exemption is the F-35 programme due to its strategic role in Nato and wider implications for international peace and security,” the spokesperson added.

“Any suggestion that the UK is licensing other weapons for use by Israel in the war in Gaza is misleading,” the spokesperson reportedly said.

Read the full report here.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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2 Comments

  2. Why do I find Jethro Tull’s song “Thick As A Brick” running through my head at this moment? It now appears that the characterisation of the Ben Gurion Airport as a civilian airport is misleading; it’s using civilian infrastructure as “human shielding”, and it is right and just for Ansarallah to bombard it to stop the entrance of weaponry for genocidal purposes. (Apparently many Jewish community figures in the UK and the US appealed to the authorities to bomb the railways leading to the concentration/death camps during WWII – the same principle applies here.)

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