Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of section V of the International Court of Justice, Advisory Opinion, Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, published by the United Nations Palestinian Rights Committee on 18 October 2024 on the issuing of export licenses for F-35 fighter jet components to be sold indirectly to Israel through an intermediary country.

The UK is fully committed to international law and fully respects the independence of the International Court of Justice.  We continue to consider the Court’s Advisory Opinion carefully, with the seriousness and rigour it deserves.

The F35 programme has a significant dependence on the UK, which provides unique and critical components. At the present time, any suspension of F-35 components to Israel through the programme is not possible without undermining the programme overall, and the government’s judgement is that this would have a significant negative impact on international peace and security. Therefore, at the present time, exports to the F-35 programme are excluded from the current suspension of export licences. We are keeping this under close review.