Israel: Arms Sales

Lord Kennedy of Southwark Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords—

[Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, we will hear first from the noble Lord, Lord Howard, and then from the noble Lord, Lord Purvis.

[Lord Howard of Lympne (Con)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord. The Foreign Secretary in his Statement said that the commitment to comply with international humanitarian law is not the only criterion in making export licensing decisions, and he justified the decision to exempt the F35 equipment on other criteria. So does it not clearly follow from that the Government could, had they wished, have decided against a ban on the ground that Israel is acting in self-defence against an organisation committed to its destruction and recognised by our own Government as a terrorist organisation? In the light of that, will the Minister now accept that when she told your Lordships’ House on Tuesday that the Government were required to suspend certain export licences, what she said was both factually inaccurate and grossly misleading?