Ground-breaking report reveals evidence suggesting UK is continuing to export military goods to Israel despite arms ban
London, 8th May 2025- The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) welcomes the findings of a ground-breaking report published yesterday: ‘Exposing UK arms exports to Israel’. The report, written by Progressive International, Palestine Youth Movement (PYM) and Workers for a Free Palestine, uses data from the Israel Tax Authority to reveal the scale of UK arms exports to Israel.
This data shows shipments of military goods, munitions of war, arms and arms parts, including the export of over 8,000 separate munitions since the government’s partial suspension of export licences in September 2024 up until March 2025.
Whilst the government suspended direct exports of F-35 components to Israel in September, they created a loophole that allows spare parts to still reach Israel if they go via another country such as the US, in order to not “undermine the global F-35 supply chain that is vital for the security of the UK, our allies and NATO”.
However, evidence from this report now shows that F-35 jet components are likely to have continued to be directly supplied to Israel, contradicting statements in the House of Commons from senior government ministers in the Department for Business and Trade and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
The report concludes that the Foreign Secretary appears to have misled parliament and the public regarding arms sales to Israel, in relation to his statement that “much of what we send [to Israel] is defensive in nature. It is not what we describe routinely as arms.”
Opaque trade data in the UK and broad customs codes (encompassing both military and non-military items) makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions, so the UK government must release transparent and complete licensing and export data to clarify the nature of these good and to allow a full investigation of these shipments.
Indeed, the organisations who authored the report criticised the opacity of the UK arms export regime, with Jeanine Hourani of PYM going so far as to say “We actually could glean more about what the UK is sending to Israel from Israeli data than from UK data. This is really shocking.”
The report is published less than a week before the High Court hearings for a legal challenge to the UK government’s continued arms sales to Israel, filed by Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), with support from the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- ICJP is a legal organisation based in London, working to uphold international law and defend the rights of Palestinians.
- Lammy’s comments can be read here.
- For more information or for media inquiries, please contact the ICJP news desk at press@icjpalestine.com