(Coventry South)
(Lab):...The second area needing urgent action relates to my
amendment (c). As we debate here in Westminster, raining down
hell on Gaza is Israel's fleet of F-35 fighter jets—planes
described by their manufacturer as the most lethal fighter jet in
the world. Israel has armed those
jets with 2,000 lb bombs with a lethal radius of 365 m—the
equivalent of 58 football pitches. A recent UN report identified
the bombs as having been used in emblematic cases of
indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on Gaza—attacks that
clearly violate international law. I raise this because every
F-35 fighter jet is made in part here in Britain, in a deal
estimated to be worth £368 million.
That is just one example of Israel's use of British-made arms in
its assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 38,000
people—disproportionately women and children. The legal threshold
for these sales to be banned has clearly been met, so they should
be banned. There is a clear risk that British-made weapons might
be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of
international humanitarian law, hence why, in February, UN
experts called on these sales to end immediately. Other
countries—Spain, Canada and the Netherlands to name just a few
—have suspended sales. Previous British Governments suspended
sales after far fewer Israeli assaults: Margaret Thatcher in
1982, in 2002, in 2009 and in 2014.
Today, the Palestinian people face death and destruction on a
scale unlike anything they have faced before, but British-made
arms are still being licensed to Israel and used
to kill innocent people. Again, I say to our new Government: it
is time for us to uphold international law and end arms sales
to Israel.
(Clapham and Brixton
Hill) (Lab):...I was also pleased to support the amendment in the
name of my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry South () to end the supply of arms
to Israel and uphold
international law. The Government have called for a ceasefire and
we need to back that up with action...
