Reported in partnership with Irish news site The Ditch
Britain has continued exporting components for use by the Israeli air force (IAF) because of gaps in the government’s restrictions on arms sales, it can be revealed.
At least two shipments of parts for IAF planes have been dispatched from Britain since September, when Labour suspended some arms export licences due to human rights concerns.
The information is contained within cargo documents reviewed by The Ditch and Declassified.
The documents show how items were dispatched by UK-based engineering firm Martin-Baker to an Elbit Systems factory in Karmiel, Israel, in October.
Martin-Baker specialises in ejection seats, which are found in military planes across the West, including in the cockpit of the IAF’s T-6 training fleet.
These aircraft are maintained by Elbit – Israel’s largest arms firm – under a $38m contract.
The revelation shows how British arms exports are continuing to support the IAF – a key player in Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza – because Labour has not implemented a complete embargo.
Emily Apple, a spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade, told Declassified: “The current arms suspension is a farce. This government is making up the rules as it goes, making a mockery of international law and prioritising the profits of arms dealers over Palestinian lives.
“There can be no excuses and no exceptions. The UK must impose an immediate, full, two-way arms embargo”.
Martin-Baker
The two shipments from Britain to Israel were both sent on 15 October 2024.
According to the cargo documents, the registered sender was the Martin-Baker Aircraft Co Ltd headquarters in Uxbridge, located just outside of London.
Cargo documents suggest that another shipment – an import – was made on 9 September to the Martin-Baker headquarters from Nevatim airbase, which hosts Israel’s squadrons of F-35 fighter jets.
Martin-Baker manufactures ejection seat components used in F-35s. These are Israel’s most advanced fighter jets and are linked to attacks on civilians in Gaza and Lebanon.
A Martin-Baker representative told Declassified that he did not recognise the shipment from Nevatim.
He said that the components delivered directly to Israel were for use in training aircraft and not for the F-35s.
This would be in line with UK foreign secretary David Lammy’s announcement of 2 September on arms restrictions to Israel.
Lammy told parliament that “trainer aircraft” were not included in arms suspensions since they were not “assessed… for military use in the current conflict”.
RELATED
‘Near-fatal’
The documents nonetheless demonstrate how Britain is continuing to assist the IAF, one of the key Israeli forces engaging in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The UN’s special rapporteur on adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, said in March that “more than 70 per cent of all housing stock in Gaza, and more than 80 per cent in parts of [the] northern region have been damaged or destroyed”.
The IAF has also been responsible for attacks on British nationals.
On 18 January, Israeli jets bombed a residential compound in Gaza housing the Emergency Medical Team of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a British charity, as well as the US-based International Rescue Committee, which is run by former UK foreign secretary David Miliband.
Four British doctors were injured in the airstrike, alongside MAP staff members and a bodyguard. MAP described the attack as “near-fatal”, causing “significant damage to the building”, and requiring the “withdrawal of the six international members”.
Starmer’s arms suspensions
The Labour government suspended 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel in early September, citing concerns over violations of international humanitarian law.
British components for the multinational F-35 joint strike fighter programme were excluded from the decision, except when going directly to Israel. Over 15% of each plane is manufactured in the UK.
“The effects of suspending all licences for the F-35 programme would undermine the global F-35 supply chain that is vital for the security of the UK, our allies, and NATO”, Lammy said.
However, the Department for Business and Trade quietly caveated these restrictions by affirming that F-35 components could be exported to Israel as long as the “software or technology will be re-exported to” another country in the F-35 programme.
The UK government thus left open the possibility that F-35 components could be sent to a third country and exported onwards to Israel, or sent directly to Israel and exported onwards to a third country.
When asked by Declassified about the recent shipments, a spokesperson for Britain’s business department did not dispute that F-35 components could have been shipped directly to Israel.
They specifically pointed Declassified to the section of the new export regulations regarding onward export.
RELATED
‘Massive loopholes’
However, it is unclear if the UK government has any mechanism in place to monitor whether items are actually being exported onwards, and not being used by the Israeli armed forces.
This indicates that there is a loophole in Britain’s arms exports guidelines, largely unnoticed by the UK press, which could be open to manipulation by the Israeli armed forces.
Emily Apple from Campaign Against Arms Trade commented: “These revelations show clearly that the Labour government is still complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
“Despite the government admitting that Israel has used F-35s to commit war crimes, it has provided massive loopholes, with zero accountability, to allow companies to continue exporting components.
“Due to the lack of transparency in UK arms exports, there is no accountability in this system, and therefore no guarantees that this equipment won’t be used by the Israeli military to commit atrocities in Gaza”.
The government’s carve-out for F-35 exports is set to be challenged at the High Court on Monday by Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and the Global Legal Action Network.
