High Court challenge over UK arms sales to Israel moves ahead, judge rules

A judge has ruled that a legal challenge to UK arms exports to Israel can move forward in the High Court, with the case set to focus on the government’s decision to continue sending F-35 fighter jet components that could end up in Israeli planes.

In a judgment filed on Thursday, Mr Justice Chamberlain said he was granting permission for a judicial review that will look specifically at grounds that challenge the UK’s “F-35 Carve Out”.

If the challenge is successful, the government’s decision to license the export of F-35 components “will have to be revisited”, the judge wrote.

While a multi-phase ceasefire deal brought a cessation of hostilities in Gaza earlier this month, the judge said he had proceeded on the basis that the ceasefire “makes no difference to the substantive or procedural issues in this case”.

This is the latest development in the challenge first brought by Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq and the UK-based Global Legal Action Network (Glan) against the UK Department for Business and Trade weeks after the Hamas-led attacks in October 2023.

At least 47,283 Palestinians were killed in the 15-month war according to the latest figures from the health ministry in Gaza.

After the ruling, Shawan Jabarin, general-director of Al-Haq, said: “Gaza is destroyed, it is unliveable. Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and erased by weapons whose components are supplied to Israel by the UK Government, acting in full knowledge of the consequences.”

Jennine Walker, a lawyer with Glan, said: “Finally, over a year after this case was started, a court will decide Al Haq and Glan’s legal challenge.”

The organisations’ request for a judicial review was initially rejected, but then accepted on appeal last April.

At that time, the UK government’s position was that there was no clear risk that arms exported from the UK might be used by Israel to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza.

On three separate occasions – on 18 December 2023, 8 April and 28 May 2024 – the government decided to proceed with licensing all arms exports to Israel, according to court documents.

War crime risk 

This changed last September when the new Labour government suspended 30 arms export licences after a review found there was indeed a clear risk that Israel might use UK arms to commit war crimes in Gaza.

But the UK continued to export the fighter jet parts to a global pool that could end up in Israeli F-35s, which experts have said were critical to its air campaign against Gaza.

The government has acknowledged that there is a clear risk that Israel may commit war crimes using F-35s, but has said it could not suspend the parts without disrupting the entire F-35 fleet and threatening global peace and security “within weeks”.

Campaigners argue that while the government assessed the risks of suspending the F-35 parts, it failed to thoroughly consider the risks posed to Palestinians and the international rule of law of continuing to exports the parts, and that it has failed to follow its own guidelines and international treaty obligations.

In addition to the focus on the F-35s, the case moving forward will also look at the UK government’s decision to continue supplying equipment that the government assessed that Israel would not be capable of using in Gaza, despite finding that Israel was not committed to complying with international humanitarian law.

Oxfam, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are interveners in the case, providing evidence and testimonies to support Glan and Al-Haq’s claim.

Helen Stawski, Oxfam’s head of policy, said she welcomed the ruling, but said that given the government has “acknowledged that Israel is breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza, it must immediately suspend all arms sales to Israel, rather than waiting on a court’s judgement”.

She added: “Leaving a loophole for F35 components is unconscionable and out of step with the Government’s domestic and international legal obligations, which it is still required to meet even with the current pause in hostilities.”

A hearing that is expected to last at least three days has been provisionally set for 12 May.