[News] Britain: From arms supplier to accomplice in war crimes

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Comment <https://english.palinfo.com/opinion_articles/>


  Britain: From arms supplier to accomplice in war crimes


      By Adnan Hmidan <https://english.palinfo.com/?p=251660>

Tuesday 19-August-2025

When we speak of the devastation in Gaza, the blame does not rest solely 
on the generals and politicians of the occupying power. The tragedy is 
sustained by the international system that arms, trains and protects it. 
And Britain, far from being a neutral observer, is among the most 
significant enablers of this machinery of destruction.

For more than 22 months, the Gaza Strip has been subjected not to war, 
but to genocide. Entire families have been wiped out, refugee camps 
turned into mass graves, and civilian infrastructure systematically 
destroyed. The International Court of Justice has already confirmed that 
there is a “plausible risk of genocide” — yet Western governments 
continue to provide weapons, surveillance systems and diplomatic cover.

Britain’s historic and present responsibility

Britain’s complicity is not new. From the Balfour Declaration in 1917, 
which laid the foundations for the settler-colonial project, to today’s 
arms shipments and political protection, the United Kingdom has been 
central to the dispossession of Palestinians. The government in London 
cannot claim ignorance: under international law, providing material 
support to a state committing war crimes or genocide makes the supplier 
complicit in those crimes.

This is not about maintaining a “strategic ally.” It is about directly 
enabling bombardment, mass displacement and collective punishment of two 
million besieged Palestinians.

Evidence of involvement

The evidence is clear and overwhelming:

Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) 
shows that the UK exported key components for F-35 fighter jets — 
including radar and targeting systems — worth over £17 million in 2023 
alone.
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) estimates that British-made parts 
account for around 15 per cent of every F-35 jet currently bombing Gaza.
Even after the UK government announced in September 2024 that it was 
suspending 30 export licenses, human rights groups documented new 
shipments, including more than 8,600 rounds of ammunition and 150,000 
bullets in the following months.
Palestinian and international human rights organizations brought a case 
before the UK High Court, arguing that such exports breach international 
law. Yet in June 2025, the court dismissed the case, claiming that arms 
licensing falls outside judicial review — effectively granting the 
government a free hand in supplying a military accused of genocide.
Such facts leave little room for ambiguity. Britain is not merely arming 
a strategic partner; it is aiding and abetting grave breaches of 
international humanitarian law.

Silencing solidarity

The British government has also moved to suppress those who expose this 
complicity. Campaign groups such as “Pal Action” have been targeted with 
bans, activists have been arrested, and even banners confiscated. But 
repression cannot erase reality. The blood of civilians testifies to the 
fact that this is not a conflict between equals, but a massacre 
sustained by Western capitals.

A moral and legal imperative

As Palestinians living in the UK, we speak not only with the voice of 
memory and history, but also with the authority of law and morality. 
International law is explicit: states that knowingly provide weapons 
used in the commission of genocide share responsibility for that crime. 
Silence, therefore, is not neutrality. It is complicity.

Britain’s record will be judged harshly. Just as the Balfour Declaration 
is remembered as a colonial betrayal, today’s arms exports will be 
recorded as enabling one of the most documented genocides of the modern era.

The call to conscience

Yet Britain is also home to countless free voices: campaigners, lawyers, 
journalists and politicians who understand that what is unfolding in 
Gaza is not distant, but deeply tied to Britain’s own decisions. They 
know that complicity today will stain this country for decades to come.

The choice before Britain is stark: continue to arm and shield a regime 
accused of genocide, or align with international law and the universal 
values it claims to uphold.

Until justice prevails

Our struggle is not simply to lift a siege, but to end decades of 
settler-colonialism and military occupation. Freedom will not be gifted; 
it will be won. And as Palestinians, in Gaza, across the diaspora, and 
here in Britain, we carry the same message passed down from one 
generation to the next: never accept injustice, and never let the flag 
of freedom fall.

/-Adnan Hmidan is a Presenter, Consultant & Trainer. His article 
appeared in MEMO./

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