THE UK’s Defence Secretary was grilled on why no ban has been placed on the supply of components for fighter jets used by Israel.
It comes after the SNP hit out at the Labour Government’s move to suspend less than 10% of the UK’s arms export licenses to Israel.
During his appearance on BBC Breakfast, Defence Secretary John Healey was grilled on why the UK had not suspended the export of components for F-35 fighter jets.
Israel uses its F35 fighter jets to drop bombs on Palestinians. The defence secretary doesn't dispute that. So why is the UK govt exempting components for those aircraft from any export ban? Its too difficult to include them, apparently. pic.twitter.com/EyzZ4v2MOi
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) September 3, 2024
We told on Monday how campaigners had said the Israeli military used an F-35 stealth fighter, which a number of UK arms firms contribute parts to, was used in an attack on July believed to have killed at least 90 Palestinians.
Specifically, Healey was asked about comments from Oxfam, which had pointed out that the components for the jets had not been included in the ban.
Healey replied: “They’re not included and it’s a deliberate and important carve out for these modern fighter jets.
“These are not just jets that the UK or Israel use, it’s 20 countries and around 1000 of these jets around the world and the UK makes important, critical components for all those jets that go into a global pull.
“So, it’s first of all hard to distinguish those that may go into Israeli jets and secondly this is a global supply chain with the UK a vital part of that supply chain and we’re not prepared to put at risk the operation of fighter jets that are central to our own UK security, that of our allies and of Nato.”
In a separate interview with LBC, Healey ruled out a full-scale arms embargo, saying the “most important” goal was to secure an immediate ceasefire.
Many criticised Healey for his remarks on social media, with one Twitter/X user describing it as “unacceptable”.
Another user, Saul Staniforth, said: “Israel uses its F-35 fighter jets to drop bombs on Palestinians. The Defence Secretary doesn’t dispute that.
“So why is the UK govt exempting components for those aircraft from any export ban? It’s too difficult to include them apparently.”
