OPINION: Halting arms sales to Israel is a gesture, but a potentially damaging one nonetheless
Britain is stronger when it works together with its allies against our common coalition of threats and foes, writes Joan Ryan
Nobody doubts our government’s sincere desire to see an end to the terrible conflict in Gaza. We all share it. Sadly, its decision this week to stop some arms sales to Israel won’t help achieve that goal. Nor will it help hasten the end of the torment of the hostages and their families, or the suffering of thousands of other innocent Israeli and Palestinians caught up in the war – a war which was triggered by Hamas’ butchery on 7 October.
Given the size of Britain’s arms sales to Israel, the decision is a gesture. But it is a potentially damaging one nonetheless.
It will direct attention away from those states which need to apply maximum pressure on Hamas to accept the ceasefire deal proposed by Israel and endorsed by the UN Security Council in June – states such as Qatar and Turkey, which physically and financially host the terror group.
It will be read by the Iranian regime as a weakening of Britain’s commitment to Israel’s security – a regime which is fighting the Jewish state on seven fronts.
And it will send a signal that Britain believes Israel is breaking international humanitarian law – a judgement that no international court has rendered and one which flies in the face of a mountain of evidence that Israel is doing no such thing.
We don’t have to take Israel’s word for that. Take, for instance, the assessment of John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, who wrote in July 2024: “What I saw in Gaza convinced me that Israel has taken the necessary steps to avoid civilian casualties, even as it has come under unwavering criticism for its handling of the war … Israel has gone above and beyond what is traditionally required of armies.”
But, as a major new publication from ELNET reminds us, we should not forget that the defence and security relationship between Britain and Israel is a vital strategic partnership; not just for Israel, but for Britain too.
Israel is, for instance, the UK’s third-largest supplier of arms. As one expert analysis suggested: “Imported Israeli arms have protected UK service personnel in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and in other combat deployments. A theoretical cessation of arms trade between the two countries would in fact be likely to have a more direct impact on UK operations than on the IDF.”
Israel and Britain also cooperate closely on countering the shared threat of Islamist terrorism. Israel’s Mossad agency is reportedly the second largest intelligence-sharing partner with Britain after the CIA. This intelligence-sharing saves lives on British streets: in 2015, information provided by Mossad reportedly helped the Metropolitan police uncover a secret Hezbollah bomb factory in London.
And Israel and Britain work together closely to protect both countries from the growing danger of cyberwarfare. In 2021, for instance, Lindy Cameron, the then-head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, labelled Israel “a long standing, like-minded and highly capable partner”.
The government’s arms sale decision will probably, albeit temporarily, unsettle our defence and security relationship with Israel. The task now is how we ensure it is fully restored, renewed and strengthened.
The 2030 roadmap signed by the two countries last year and the bilateral strategic dialogue provides a useful framework.
But there are three steps our government can take which will help restore trust and underline to Israel that, as John Healey, the defence secretary, argued this week, the UK’s commitment to its security remains “unshakeable”.
First, since Hezbollah opened a second front on 8 October, there have been nearly 2,900 attacks – including rockets, missiles and suicide drones – launched at northern Israel. Over 60,000 Israelis have been evacuated from their homes and 47 people, including 25 civilians, have been killed.
Hezbollah’s presence in southern Lebanon is a clear and continuing breach of UN Security Council resolution 1701 which ended the 2006 war. In reality, both the Lebanese Armed Forces and United Nations Interim Force have proved unable or unwilling to confront Hezbollah and enforce the terms of the UN resolutions which require its forces to remain some 17-miles north of the Blue Line.
The US and France have, for understandable reasons, taken the lead in efforts to promote de-escalation but Britain’s voice should be heard too: after all, since 2009, we’ve invested £100m in the Lebanese army and helped train over 26,000 of its troops.
The government is right to call for de-escalation, but it is important that the British public also receives a clear message from ministers: it is Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terror group, which is proscribed in the UK, which is breaking UN resolutions and is directly responsible for the bloodshed occurring in both Israel and Lebanon. Moreover, our diplomatic efforts should be focused on a simple truth: the fastest route to de-escalation is the full enforcement by the international community of UNSCR 1701.
Second, in July, the government launched a strategic defence review which will report in the first half of next year. Its parameters include an examination of how to maintain the UK’s defence ties to the Gulf and the Middle East. It is vital that tackling the threat posed by Iran is at the centre of this element of the review.
We urgently need new thinking about how Britain works with our allies to challenge Tehran’s support for international terrorism, arrest its ever-advancing nuclear programme and counter its ever-growing arsenal of ballistic missiles.
Most importantly, we need to stop viewing Iran simply in terms of its threat to Israel and our interests in the region – very real though they are.
Iran’s missiles have a range capable of reaching NATO states such as Romania, Bulgaria and Greece. Tehran and Moscow are currently finalising a new comprehensive partnership agreement. And, of course, the regime has become Russia’s closest ally in Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine – supplying suicide drones and is reportedly now preparing to send ballistic missiles.
Finally, and relatedly, the government this week announced it was sanctioning four new IRGC targets. This is welcome news, and it should be swiftly followed by action to fulfil its pledge to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Once again, this isn’t simply a question of the danger posed by IRGC’s Quds Force in the Middle East.
It is also about its nefarious activities here in the UK: its role in promoting extremism and antisemitism and the fact that, as the government revealed in January, since the start of 2022, there have been “at least 15 credible threats and plots” to kill British or UK-based individuals by the Iranian regime.
Israel and Britain share a common coalition of threats and foes. We’re stronger when, alongside the US and our European allies, we work together to counter them. That should be the touchstone upon which the relationship between Britain and Israel rests.
- Joan Ryan, chief executive of ELNET UK
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