Over 50 Labour MPs call for Israel arms sales suspension as pressure grows on Sunak and Starmer

Over 50 Labour MPs – more than a quarter of the parliamentary Labour Party and over half of the Party’s backbenchers – are now calling for an immediate suspension of arms sales to Israel.

The news comes as London Mayor Sadiq Khan also backed an immediate suspension of arms sales. The Lib Dems and SNP have also issued the same demand.

Today, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also called for an end to UK arms sales to Israel. But so far, the UK leadership refuses to budge.

In a separate development, civil servants are threatening to stop work over arms sales to Israel. Officials in the Department for Business and Trade have requested to “cease work immediately” over fears they could be complicit in war crimes in Gaza.

Former Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP tweeted: “Full support for these courageous civil servants. The Rome Statute covering war crimes is clear that following a superior’s instructions is not a defence when it comes to charges of war crimes. The government must come clean on the legal advice it has.”

Former Shadow Justice Secretary Richard Burgon MP also backed the civil servants, tweeting: “I fully support these workers.” Former Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Grahame Morris MP also expressed “full support and solidarity with these PCS union members’ courageous actions.” Former leader Jeremy Corbyn MP also expressed his solidarity.

At the same time, the University and College Union announced: “We have today written to the university employer body UUK calling on them to review their UK-Israel research partnership scheme – in line with legal and ethical obligations to avoid any complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

Momentum has launched a petition calling on Labour to back a suspension of arms sales to Israel. Currently, the Labour leadership is asking only that the government reveal what legal advice it has received on the issue – although Rishi Sunak clearly has no intention of doing so.

Meanwhile, 600 leading lawyers including three former Supreme Court justices are also demanding a suspension of arms sales to Israel, accusing the government of breaching international law by continuing to issue licenses.

Opinion polls, even before this week’s bombing of an aid convoy by Israel, showed public support for a suspension of arms sales. 71% of Labour voters back the demand, with just 9% opposed. 59% of voters say Israel is breaching people’s human rights in Gaza.

Kate Dove, Momentum Co-Chair said: “Israel’s murder of aid workers in Gaza represents one more war crime in a long list of atrocities. It is no wonder, then, that a majority of voters find it unconscionable that the UK continues to send weapons to Israel, a state on trial for genocide, or that 600 leading lawyers find it illegal. Yet while the SNP and Lib Dems have called for a suspension of arms sales, the Labour leadership has not. We must exert maximum pressure on Sunak and Cameron to finally do the right thing – that means Keir Starmer and David Lammy speaking up for an immediate suspension of arms sales to Israel.”

Tell Labour: Stand Against Arms Sales to Israel! Sign the petition and spread the word.

Image: London march for ceasefire, January 13th, c/o Labour Hub.

Over 50 Labour MPs call for Israel arms sales suspension as pressure grows on Sunak and Starmer

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