The UK’s largest arms fair will feature 51 Israeli
companies, including Elbit Systems and Rafael, campaigners at CAAT revealed on
Thursday.
According to a press release from CAAT, "despite the UK government refusing to invite an official Israeli government delegation," Israel's three largest arms companies, Elbit Systems, Rafael, and Israel Aerospace Industries, have confirmed they will still be attending the four-day Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI).
“This government keeps insisting it is doing everything in its power to hold the Israeli government to account for its actions. This information shows this is an outrageous and offensive lie,”
CAAT’s Media Coordinator, Emily Apple, said in a statement, ahead of the opening on Tuesday.
“However it has reached peak complicity in genocide in allowing 51 Israeli arms companies to exhibit at DSEI.”
According to Apple, the UK government "is permitting companies to market their weapons that have been tested for genocide to human rights abusing countries worldwide."
She added,
“The people who run these companies are war criminals. They should be investigated for crimes against humanity, not invited to profit from the unspeakable devastation they have caused in Gaza.”
According to the statement, new statistics on "the most significant part" of the UK's arms trade with Israel the F-35 combat aircraft are included in CAAT's most recent study on UK armaments to Israel, How the UK Arms and Supports Israel's Genocide in Gaza.
According to CAAT, Israel is dropping 2000-pound bombs on children in Gaza using F-35s.
“From available data, CAAT is now able to conservatively estimate that the value of this contract to UK arms companies, including spare parts, is £572m since 2016,”
the statement noted.
It said the prime contractor for the F35s, Lockheed Martin, as well as BAE Systems, the lead sub-contractor in the UK, will both exhibit at DSEI.
“These are the arms companies arming the IDF (Israeli Army – PC). These are the arms companies facilitating and profiting from Israel bombing hospitals, killing journalists and deliberately starving babies,”
Apple stated.
Israel has continued its brutal aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip after breaking the ceasefire on March 18, killing and injuring thousands of Palestinians.
With American assistance, the Israeli military began a genocidal campaign on the Gaza population on October 7, 2023. Over 64,500 Palestinians have been killed and over 163,000 injured as a result of this campaign thus far. The loss of infrastructure is unprecedented since World War II, and the vast majority of people have been displaced. There are still thousands missing.
Along with the military attack, the Israeli siege has resulted in a man-made famine that has killed hundreds of Palestinians, primarily children, and put hundreds of thousands more in danger.
How does the UK justify arms sales to countries involved in conflicts?
The UK says it will not give arms export licenses
"where there is a clear risk" that weapons will be used to violate
international humanitarian law or human rights or to prolong conflict, in
accordance with the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and its domestic export control
obligations.
Licenses are granted as part of a risk process that weighs how likely it is that weapons will be used to commit serious violations or repression. The UK state maintains that it does not approve, or suspends, licenses if there is a clear risk.
The UK government states that arms exports support people's jobs and the economy, and claims that arms exports are necessary for its national interests and the defence industrial base.