2024-09-09 05:07:40
Although the UK has decided to suspend some military equipment exports to Israel, this is unlikely to have a significant impact on our country’s military capabilities.
The Times reports this.
The UK’s contribution to Israel’s arsenal is just 0.02%, with total arms export licences worth £18.2m last year. The ban does not apply to components of the F-35 fighter jets, which the UK has excluded from sanctions to avoid disrupting the global supply chain for the jets.
The revocation of 30 licences out of more than 500, worth a total of 18 million, is more of a political gesture than a real embargo, and smacks of PR by left-wing Labour supporters of the Palestinian Arabs. Unlike the UK, the US and Germany remain Israel’s largest arms suppliers.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the two countries accounted for 99% of Israel’s total arms imports from 2019 to 2023. In 2023, the US approved more than $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including F-15 fighter jets and 33,000 tank shells.
Germany, Israel’s second-largest arms supplier, sold $326.5 million worth of military equipment to Israel in 2023, but has cut back on sales since the Gaza conflict began under growing criticism. Italy, Canada, Spain and the Netherlands have also restricted arms exports to Israel, citing “humanitarian concerns and international obligations.”
Earlier, Cursor wrote that the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, expressed his deep disappointment in connection with the government’s decision to suspend licenses for arms exports to Israel.