The High Court has dismissed GLAN/Al-Haq’s application for judicial review on the exemption, or “carve-out”, made by the Labour government to allow the UK to continue supplying F-35 combat aircraft components to Israel.
During the case, the government accepted that Israel is not committed to complying with international law, and that there is a clear risk that Israel is using F-35s to commit war crimes. UK industry makes 15% of every F-35, with the value of UK components in Israel’s F-35s estimated by CAAT to be well over £500m. This is by far the most significant part of the UK arms trade with Israel. At least 75 UK companies are involved in manufacturing components. For example, BAE Systems makes every rear fuselage for the F-35 and also makes its active interceptor system. Leonardo makes its targeting lasers and L3 Harris makes the weapons release cables.
Israel is using its 45 F-35s intensively to bomb the Palestinian people in Gaza, including using horrifically destructive 2,000lb bombs. By March this year, Israel had carried out 15,000 flight hours with the F-35 since the start of the war, using the planes in “beast mode”, with extra munitions attached to the wings.
In its ruling, the court determined that it didn’t have the jurisdiction to rule on international law and that only the government is able to decide when it should, or should not, comply with international law. This is because, according to the judgment, international treatises are not incorporated into domestic law.
Successive UK governments have claimed that the UK has one of the most “robust” arms licensing regimes in the world. This judgment shows this is clearly not the case. Indeed, the ability of the government to make “carve-outs” from the export licensing criteria, makes following these rules, and complying with the Arms Trade Treaty, essentially optional. Urgent reform to domestic law is needed to incorporate international legal principles into the UK’s arms export laws.
The judgment also shows that the decision not to implement a full two-way arms embargo put more weight on the “need to manage our relationship with Israel” than Israel’s genocide against Palestinian people in Gaza.
The ruling comes on the same day the Home Secretary laid an order in parliament proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation. CAAT argues that this ruling vindicates the need for direct action as the only way of ensuring the UK is compliant with international law.
CAAT’s Media Coordinator, Emily Apple said:
“This is a cowardly ruling that absolves any responsibility from the court to rule on the UK government’s compliance with international law. International law exists to keep all of us safe. It should be the founding principle of our arms export criteria, not one the government can pick and choose when to implement.
“Successive governments have claimed that our arms export licensing criteria are the most robust in the world. This claim is now in tatters.
“This court ruling vindicates Palestine Action. Palestine Action are not terrorists – they have the courage our courts clearly lack. It shows the only option open to us is to take direct action against the arms trade, to stop the genocide profiteers in their tracks. We cannot rely on our institutions to uphold international law, we can only rely on ourselves and the power we have to create change.
“When our government and our courts fail us, it is down to us, ordinary citizens, to take action. We cannot wait for the history books to vindicate us. We cannot wait for Israel to obliterate Gaza and the West Bank. We cannot wait and watch while Israel kills more Palestinian children with 2000lb bombs dropped by F-35s. We will not stand by and we will not stay silent while the government prioritises its relationship with a genocidal state and arms dealers’ profits over Palestinian lives.”
