UK defends arms sales to Israel amid genocide as high court case opens

The UK government has insisted there is “no evidence” of genocide in Gaza as it faces a legal challenge over its continued involvement in the F-35 fighter jet programme, parts of which are said to be used by Israel in its onslaught on the besieged Palestinian enclave. Government lawyers made the claims at the opening of a high court case brought by Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and the Global Legal Action Network, with support from Amnesty International, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Al-Haq’s legal counsel, Raza Husain KC, warned the court that the case unfolds “against the backdrop of human calamity unfolding in Gaza, the extremity of which is difficult to convey in words.” More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, including at least 15,000 children, with at least 1.9 million people displaced multiple times.

Despite this, UK government lawyers asserted there was “no evidence” that Israel is targeting women or children and suggested there was no current legal obligation to prevent genocide unless one is proven to be occurring. They claimed the Israeli military had made “efforts to limit incidental harm to civilians” and said the likelihood that UK components had been used in Gaza was “very small”.

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Government lawyers argued that the UK must continue supplying parts for the F-35 fighter jet, despite suspending other arms exports to Israel. These parts are shared through a global supply chain used by NATO countries, and the government argues that halting the UK’s involvement could disrupt military cooperation between allied states. It warned that this might weaken NATO’s ability to respond to threats such as Russia’s war in Ukraine.

However, legal experts and rights groups argue that continued exports violate Britain’s obligations under the Genocide Convention, Arms Trade Treaty and Geneva Conventions. Al-Haq maintains that the UK must act not only when genocide has been definitively proven, but when there is a risk of genocide, a threshold already recognised by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

While UK lawyers downplayed any genocidal intent, Husain pointed to a cascade of dehumanising and genocidal statements from senior Israeli figures, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In the latest of his many statements demonstrating the intent to commit genocide, he is reported saying in the Times of Israel on Monday that Israel is “destroying more and more houses [in Gaza and Palestinians accordingly] have nowhere to return.” 

Netanyahu went on to add: “The only obvious result will be Gazans choosing to emigrate outside of the Strip, but [our] main problem is finding countries to take them in.”

Multiple genocide experts, including Raz Segal and Omer Bartoz, have concluded that Israel’s conduct in Gaza amounts to genocide. These assessments are supported by overwhelming evidence of mass killings, forced displacement, deliberate targeting of civilian infrastructure and systematic attacks on Gaza’s healthcare system.

The case also shines a spotlight on wider British complicity. The UK has continued surveillance flights over Gaza, with over 500 Royal Air Force missions logged since December 2023, raising further questions about Britain’s role in facilitating Israeli operations. Despite growing domestic opposition — including from British Jewish leaders, who have described Israel’s actions as genocidal — the government has refused to halt arms exports.

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