Just weeks after the UK government unveiled high-profile plans to cut off trade — including weapons shipments — with Israeli illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, new parliamentary disclosures reveal the touted sanctions regime has resulted in zero additional arms licenses being suspended or revoked. The revelation confirms longstanding criticism that the current Labour government’s pledge to distance itself from Israel’s occupation is little more than performative policy.
The context for this new policy stretches back to 2024, when Israel’s large-scale military assault on Gaza was intensifying. Then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer paused 30 of roughly 350 active arms export licenses to Israel at that time. But new data from the UK-based campaign group Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) shows that since October 2023, the UK has already approved at least £178 million ($235 million) in fixed-value military export licenses for Israel. This total does not include exports authorized under open-ended licenses, which covers the bulk of British components supplied for the multinational F-35 fighter jet program that Israel participates in.
UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband framed the new restrictions as a “double lock against arms sales” that would uphold existing suspensions and reject any new applications for arms that “materially contribute to the occupation” of Palestinian territories. Almost immediately after the announcement, however, CAAT warned that while the policy was a step in the right direction, it contained critical loopholes that would allow arms flows to continue. One major loophole permits the UK to keep supplying F-35 components to a global spare parts pool accessed by the Israeli military, while another allows Israel to use UK-exported military equipment for third-country operations.
Prominent progressive parliamentarians, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, MP Zarah Sultana, and Green Party leader Zack Polanski, have argued that the limited trade ban should only be the first step toward a full, comprehensive arms embargo on Israel. Their calls have gained new urgency after Declassified UK reported September 16 that the UK Department for Trade confirmed, in response to a question from MP Iqbal Mohamed, that no additional licenses have been revoked or suspended since the new policy was announced on September 8.
In a statement to parliament, trade officials claimed the lack of new actions was “largely because licenses for items that might materially contribute to the occupation have already been suspended because of Israel’s conduct in the Gaza conflict.” The government also asserts that most remaining licenses cover goods intended for re-export to third countries or military-grade items for civilian use, such as body armor. But reporting by Declassified UK directly challenges these claims.
Despite government assertions, F-35 fighter jet components still flow to the global spare pools used by Israel, and UK-made parts for trainer aircraft that support the F-35 program are still exported directly to Israel. When questioned about these trainer aircraft components, the trade department told parliament that the parts “are not used in Gaza and… do not materially contribute to Israel’s illegal occupation.” This claim contradicts previous acknowledgements from the UK Foreign Office, which has confirmed that Israeli M-346 trainer aircraft are “used to train [Israeli Air Force] fast-jet pilots” and “facilitate the development of an offensive capacity.”
Dearbhla Minogue, a lawyer with the Global Legal Action Network — which brought a successful legal challenge against the UK over arms exports to Israel in 2024 — told Declassified UK that the new disclosures show “no concrete consequences for Israel after this government recognized the likelihood of war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and what it terms Israeli terrorism.”
Sam Perlo-Freeman, research coordinator at CAAT, said successive UK governments “have done everything in their power to continue aiding and abetting genocide and war crimes with deadly and devastating consequences.” He described the new “double-lock” policy as “nothing more than a soundbite designed to appease voters, whilst failing to deliver meaningful policy change, and continuing to allow arms dealers to profit from Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”
This revelation about UK policy toward Israel comes amid growing criticism of the government’s continued military support for Saudi Arabia. Just days before this disclosure, Prime Minister Andy Burnham confirmed the UK would continue providing “defensive” air-to-air refueling support to Saudi Arabia as the kingdom launches new airstrikes against Houthi forces in Yemen. A new CAAT report finds that the UK approved £464.8 million in military exports to Saudi Arabia in the first quarter of 2026 alone, most of which consists of air-to-surface weapons. Between 2015 and 2022, the Saudi-led war in Yemen killed an estimated 377,000 people from both direct combat and indirect causes such as famine and lack of access to healthcare. During that eight-year conflict, CAAT documents show the UK approved £7.1 billion ($9.4 billion) worth of military exports to the Saudi government.