Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make it his policy to impose an embargo on the sale of arms between the UK and Israel.

The Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria. We do not believe that imposing a blanket arms embargo on Israel would promote the urgent progress towards the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which we want to see. We continue to monitor the situation in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories and take into account the latest circumstances when assessing licence applications. Israel, like any state, has the right to ensure its own security, as its citizens also have the right to live without fear of attack and we will continue to support Israel’s right to defend itself.