Boris Johnson: Shameful to call for UK to end arms sales to Israel

Boris Johnson has criticised fellow former prime minister Lord David Cameron for staying silent over UK arms sales to Israel, ITV News Reporter Sejal Karia reports

Former prime minister Boris Johnson has said it is “shameful” to call for the UK to end arms sales to Israel.

He also criticised Lord David Cameron for what he sees as a lack of response, claiming the foreign secretary has “gone into a kind of purdah” on the issue.

Three Britons were among the seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers who died in airstrikes in Gaza carried out by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) on Monday.

Israeli officials have dismissed two officers over the strikes, which were described as a “grave mistake stemming from a serious failure”.

Lord Cameron said the UK will carefully review findings of the initial IDF report into the incident released on Friday.

"Lessons must be learnt from today’s initial findings from the IDF. It’s clear major reform of Israel’s deconfliction mechanism is badly needed to ensure the safety of aid workers," he added.

The incident has led to widespread calls from MPs from all major parties to end UK arms sales to Israel, as well as a letter signed by more than 600 lawyers, including former Supreme Court justices.

In his column for The Daily Mail, Mr Johnson said those supporting the end of arms sales were “clamouring for us to turn our backs on the only democracy in the Middle East”.

He stated that if the UK stopped arms sales, it would encourage the UK to also end their military support of Israel, therefore “willing the military defeat of Israel and the victory of Hamas”.

He wrote: “Remember that in order to win this conflict, Hamas only has to survive. All they need at the end is to hang on, rebuild, and go again. That’s victory for Hamas; and that is what these legal experts seem to be asking for.”

Mr Johnson said it was “shattering” to see deaths of three British aid workers, but that Israel was sending warnings of their attacks and “trying to use precision munitions”.

He said: “If the West continues to crumble — and especially if Britain and the US crumble — then the Israelis will be prevented from getting into Rafah. They will be prevented from achieving their objective: of finishing Hamas as a military force in Gaza.”

He added: “Is that really what you want, all you legal experts who say that Israel’s actions now necessitate an arms embargo? Do you want to hand victory to a bunch of murderers and rapists?”

Mr Johnson concluded that the banning of arms sales would be “insane” and “shameful”. He added: “The sooner the government formally denounces the idea, the better.”

However, Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said she believed the government now has "no choice but to suspend arms sales" to Israel.

She said it was “devastating” that it had taken six months and the deaths of western aid workers for Israel to change course over the supply of international humanitarian aid.

Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, had said it was “devastating” that it had taken six months and the deaths of western aid workers for Israel to change course over the supply of international humanitarian aid. On Friday, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through central London for the annual Al Quds Day demonstration. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has written letters to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, calling on them to press Hamas for a hostage deal with Israel, according to a senior administration official. The letters, to Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisim and Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, come as Mr Biden has deployed CIA director Bill Burns to Cairo for talks this weekend about the hostage crisis.

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