Pro-Israeli lawyers threaten legal action against UK government over blocked arms sales

UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) have sent a formal letter to the British government threatening legal action against them unless they reverse the decision to suspend around 30 licenses for the export of arms to Israel.

Last week, British foreign secretary David Lammy announced the suspension  said it would immediately suspend 30 of its 350 arms export licences to Israel because there was a risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law.

UKLFI hit out at the decision, with a statement from them on 8 September claiming that it is not justified.

"…The Decision was made on two grounds, which had nothing to do with whether the banned items might be used to violate international humanitarian law," the letter to the government states.

It notes that the two points were that Israel could have done more to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches the Gaza population and that there was credible allegations of mistreatment of Palestinian detainees, who were denied access to the Red Cross.

"Even if these alleged risks exist, they are not connected with the particular arms whose export licences are being suspended. Therefore, the decision is not justified under criterion 2c of the SELC," the letter adds.

ULFI also went onto scrutinise emails by the Solicitor-General, Sarah Sackman MP, who was responding to some of her constituents.

The lawyers state that her emails said that the "UK Government can only grant export licenses for arms if it is confident that the those [sic] arms will not be used in breach of international humanitarian law."

"The Solicitor-General’s emails were inaccurate and misstated the legal test.  Under Sackman’s test, any country trading with the UK would be treated as guilty of war crimes until proven innocent. If she was right then the entire UK defence industry would find it impossible to make any exports," UKLFI continued.

The group goes on to call for a response from the British government by 20 September, with the chief executive, Jonathan Turner, saying they have a strong belief that the decision was "unlawful".

"In truth, it was a political decision to appease members of the public who hate Israel based on misinformation and biased media coverage of the war. As such, it was a misuse of the power granted by the legislation," he said.

Last week, UKLFI also threatened to launch an investigation into the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan, threatening to charge him with professional misconduct.

UKLFI wrote to Khan last week, according to The Telegraph, saying he will be reported to the UK Bar Standards Board unless he agrees to review the evidence against Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

It comes after Khan on 20 May applied to issue arrest warrants against three Hamas leaders and two Israeli leaders.

The threats from the pro-Israeli lawyers came as the death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza reached 40,988, with  at least 94,825 others wounded since the start of the war on 7 October.

The bombardment has utterly devastated the Gaza Strip and plunged it into a deep humanitarian crisis, with aid agencies warning against catastrophic levels of hunger.