Pro-Israel legal group threaten action against government over Israel arms suspensions

In claims that will be disputed by the government Jonathan Turner, of UK Lawyers for Israel, said 'there is a strong case the decision was unlawful'

A pro-Israel legal advocacy group has written to the UK government threatening action over the decision to suspend 30 licences for arms exports to Israel.

Jonathan Turner, the chief executive of UK Lawyers for Israel, is claiming “there is a strong case that the government’s decision was unlawful.”

He alleged:”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.”

The claims are likely to be disputed by the government, with the Attorney General Richard Hermer KC, who approved the limited suspension of arms expert licenses, recognised as an expert in international law.

The letter notes that the Government’s decision is based on criterion 2c of the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria (SELC).

This says that the Government will “Not grant a licence if it determines there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

In his statement in the Commons last week David Lammy said the government “have not and could not arbitrate on whether or not Israel has breached international humanitarian law”, but that it had a legal duty under the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria not to grant an arms export licence “if it determines there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.

Factors taken into account included claims Israel could have done more to ensure that humanitarian assistance reaches the Gaza population and t there were credible allegations of mistreatment of Palestinian detainees.

UKLFI’s letter also criticises emails it says have been sent by the Solicitor-General, Sarah Sackman, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, responding to some of her constituents.

These emails allegedly asserted 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.”

UKLFI claim the Solicitor-General’s emails were inaccurate and misstated the legal test. They have called for the government to respond to the letter by 20 September 2024.