The Chief Rabbi has condemned the government’s decision to suspend some arms sales to Israel amid a mounting backlash over the move.
Sir Ephraim Mirvis said it “beggars belief” after foreign secretary David Lammy made the surprise announcement in the House of Commons.
Israeli politicians and senior Tories have also hit out at the decision, which has reportedly angered the US government as well.
Lammy told MPs that an assessment by the government had concluded there was a “clear risk” that UK-made weapons being sold to Israel could be used to breach international humanitarian law in Gaza.
He said around 30 arms exports licences are being suspended, out of a total of around 350.
Lammy - who described himself as “a liberal, progressive Zionist” - also insisted the government’s decision is “not a determination of innocence or guilt” on Israel’s part.
But in a post on X, Sir Ephraim said: “It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licences, at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its very survival on seven fronts forced upon it on the 7th October, and at the very moment when six hostages murdered in cold blood by cruel terrorists were being buried by their families.
“As Israel faces down the threat of Iran and its proxies, not just to its own people, but to all of us in the democratic west; this announcement feeds the falsehood that Israel is in breach of International Humanitarian Law, when in fact it is going to extraordinary lengths to uphold it.
“Sadly, this announcement will serve to encourage our shared enemies. It will not help to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages, nor contribute to the peaceful future we wish and pray for, for all people in the region and beyond.
“Britain and Israel have so much to gain by standing together against our common enemies for the sake of a safer world. Surely that must be the way forward.”
It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licences, at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its very survival on seven fronts forced upon it on the 7th October, and at the very moment when six…
— Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis (@chiefrabbi) September 2, 2024
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it had relayed its “deep concern” about the decision to senior members of the government.
“The move, made on the day of the funerals of Israeli hostages murdered in cold blood by Hamas, risks sending a dangerous message to Hamas and other adversaries of the UK that they can commit appalling atrocities - condemned by the UK government - and yet still see Israel castigated,” they said.
Our statement on the Government's decision today to institute a partial arms sales suspension against Israel: pic.twitter.com/WKJNNxnVRv
— Board of Deputies of British Jews (@BoardofDeputies) September 2, 2024
Israel’s minister for diaspora affairs, Amichai Chikli, told Radio 4′s the World Tonight programme: “I think we need to combat terrorism together. The fight against Isis and al-Qaeda and Hamas, it’s the same war between the western civilisation and radical Islam.
“The threat that is coming from Hamas is also an inner threat that you are facing in the streets of the UK.”
Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick said the government’s decision was “shameful gesture politics to appease the hard left”.
“Sir Keir Starmer has put party management first, and Britain’s interests second.
“Britain should be standing with our ally Israel as it defends itself, and the world, against Iran’s war of state-sponsored terrorism.”
But others accused the government of not going far enough.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, said the decision was “far too limited a response to the scale of the crimes against humanity, which are unfolding before the watching world”.
