BRITISH JEWS: ISRAEL USED GAZA AS ARMS TESTING FACTORY
London, 14 Rajab 1436/3 May 2015 (MINA) – The UK’s role in the Gaza attacks by Israel last summer have come to the surface with the Manchester Jews for Justice for Palestine writing an open letter and calling for an end to the arms deal with Britain and Israel.
In a news report in Russia Today, the letter to Mondoweiss claims that in November last year, figures revealed that Britain had approved arms sales to Israel worth £7 million in the six monthsbefore its offensive on Gaza last summer, including drone parts, combat aircraft and helicopters.
This led to concerns that equipment made in Britain was used by the Israeli army during in which more than 2,000 Palestinians anost their lives, World Bulletin quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.
Labour MP Katy Clark commented at the time: “It is now abundantly clear that not only did the UK refuse to condemn Israeli military action throughout Operation Protective Edge, but that it actively allowed UK companies to arm the IDF throughout the conflict.”
Manchester Jews for Justice for Palestinians have harshly criticized the “UK’s complicity in Israeli war crimes” in an open letter and called for a boycott for Israeli products and an end of the arms trade between the UK and Israel.
The group wrote their letter on a blog on the Mondoweiss site saying that “We deplore the UK’s complicity in Israeli war crimes, most recently the massacres and destruction of homes and livelihoods in Gaza last summer,”
“It is well known how Israel has expelled the Palestinian population from their land and enforced a systematic, military and illegal occupation against those that remain. What is less well known is that the UK has been aiding and abetting Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people.”
The Jewish community that was living in the UK pointed out that UK export licenses have been granted for over £42 million of UK military hardware and communications equipment since 2010.
“We ask: How can UK companies be allowed to profit from exporting arms or components to Israel when these products may be involved with the Israeli bombardment in the summer of 2014 that killed over 2,100 people [≈ population of Saipan, capital city of Northern Mariana Islands], including over 500 children?” they wrote.
The group called on all companies and individuals involved to not trade from firms that support the arms trade with Israel.
“We urge you to heed the Palestinian call for the boycott of Israeli products, divestment from firms that support Israel and sanctions against the Israeli regime,” they conclude.
“The UK need not be complicit in such evident crimes against humanity. Crimes against a people who are mostly children and refugees, a people who need the world to stop turning their backs on the endless catastrophes that the most heavily militarized army in the Middle East has imposed on them.” (T/P011/R04)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
