The British government’s Department for Business and Trade has frozen all weapons export licenses to Israel as London is mulling an arms embargo, the London-based Jewish Chronicle reported on Monday.
While U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy has yet to determine whether to halt the sales in question, civil servants reportedly informed exporters that the granting of permits has been “suspended pending policy review.”
In a response to the JC, the U.K. Department for Business and Trade claimed that the pause did not reflect a change in London’s policy.
“We continue to review export license applications on a case-by-case basis against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria,” the department stated. “It is vital that we uphold both our domestic and international legal obligations when it comes to arms exports. We are reviewing the advice regarding exports to Israel and no decision has been made.”
The reported export freeze comes as Israel awaits Iran’s anticipated revenge attack for last week’s assassination in Tehran of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh, for which Tehran has blamed the Jewish state.
Iran’s Lebanese terrorist proxy Hezbollah has also threatened to avenge the targeted killing of its No. 2, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut on July 30. The Israel Defense Forces has acknowledged responsibility for the strike.
Sources in Jerusalem told Israel Hayom last month that the U.K. is poised to impose an arms export ban on Israel. While officials in Israel’s Foreign Ministry are engaging in behind-the-scenes diplomacy to avert the decision, the report said these efforts have so far been unsuccessful.
The anticipated action adds to the “unofficial boycotts” and less formal measures taken by other Western European countries in recent months. These nations have halted or delayed shipments of supplies to Israeli industries that produce equipment for the IDF.
The move is viewed as a direct extension of the new Labor government’s reported decision to abandon an effort to challenge the International Criminal Court over attempts to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The previous government, under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, joined Israel in fighting ICC prosecutor Karim Khan after he applied to have the court issue warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged “war crimes.”
Lammy said last month that he would seek a “balanced position” on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
“I hope, too, that we see a ceasefire soon, and we bring an alleviation to the suffering and the intolerable loss of life that we’re now seeing also in Gaza,” the top diplomat stated during a visit to Jerusalem on July 15.
