The F-35 is part of Israel’s air force and has taken part in the bombardment of Gaza [Getty]
A coalition of 230 organisations has issued a demand for countries producing the F-35 fighter jet to stop all arms transfers to Israel over its war on Gaza.
The coalition, which joins organisations across 23 countries, as well as non-country specific organisations, sent letters to F-35 partner states to suspend arms, components and spare parts transfers to Israel, including those relating to the F-35.
These countries include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, the UK, and the US.
“The past 16 months have illustrated with devastating clarity that Israel is not committed to complying with international law. The fragility of the Gaza ceasefire underscores the risk of further violations and the need to halt arms exports to Israel, including F-35s,” the letter read.
“Partners to the F-35 programme have individually and collectively failed to prevent these jets from being used to commit serious violations of international law by Israel,” it added.
In November the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Israel in its war on Gaza.
The letter noted the example of the UK as an example of failing to uphold international humanitarian law. While determining that Israel has used the F-35 to commit violations of international humanitarian law, the government argued that the nature of procurement in the programme has prevented the application of a suspension of arms transfers to Israel.
“Effectively, there are no circumstances in which this supply of F-35 components would be suspended,” the letter said.
Moreover, the group argue that as active members of the Arms Trade Treaty, with the exception of the US, as well as signatories of the genocide convention and possessing national laws, or European level laws requiring commitment to international law, the countries had a legal obligation to suspend the arms transfers.
In 2024 the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, The Netherlands, issued a preliminary verdict that it was plausible that Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza had violated the genocide convention and ordered preventative measures.
It is still reviewing the case, which was brought about by South Africa.
The letter further noted that legal action has been taken in Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, the UK, and the US in a bid to halt arms to Israel.
Signatories to the letter include Oxfam International, various branches of Al-Haq, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UK-based Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).
Katie Fallon, Advocacy Manager at CAAT, called the F-35 programme “emblematic of the West’s complicity in Israel’s crimes against Palestinians,” adding that the “programme gives material and political consent from all Western partners, including the UK, for these crimes to continue.”
General Director of al-Haq, Shawan Jabarin, said that “the overwhelming evidence of Israel’s grave violations of international law makes the F-35 partner nations – all of which are signatories to the Geneva Conventions, with the majority also having ratified the Arms Trade Treat – complicit in these actions”.
“They must collectively ensure that F-35 jets and components no longer reach Israel, halting further complicity in these international crimes,” he added.
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 61,709 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s government media office which includes tens of thousands of people presumed dead under the enclave’s rubble.
