A Palestinian organisation has failed in a legal challenge to prevent the British government licensing the export of key parts of F-35 fighter jets to Israel.
In a ruling handed down this morning, the High Court rejected an attempt by Al Haq to apply for a judicial review relating to the government’s decision not to include the F-35 in its suspension of certain arms export licenses relating to Israel last September.
“For the reasons given in this judgment, we reject all of the Claimant’s extant grounds of challenge to the September Decision”, the ruling, from High Court justices Lord Justice Males and Mrs Justice Steyn, said.
“It is important to understand what this case has been about and what it has not been about. It has not been about whether the UK should supply arms or other military equipment to Israel. That decision has been made by the Secretary of State, who has decided, in the September Decision, that it should not. The decision not to supply such arms extends in principle to F-35 components which can be identified as destined for Israel.
“Rather, this case has been concerned with a much more focused issue. That issue is whether it is open to the court to rule that the UK must withdraw from a specific multilateral defence collaboration which is reasonably regarded by the responsible Ministers as vital to the defence of the UK and to international peace and security, because of the prospect that some UK manufactured components will or may ultimately be supplied to Israel, and may be used in the commission of a serious violation of IHL in the conflict in Gaza. Under our constitution that acutely sensitive and political issue is a matter for the executive which is democratically accountable to Parliament and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts.”
Al Haq, represented by numerous barristers from the Bindmans law firm, attempted to argue that the Foreign Secretary’s F-35 decision had breached international law and had misapplied articles of both the Geneva convention and Genocide conventions, both of which the UK is a signatory to.
The government had made it clear that the F-35 parts it produces are not supplied directly to Israel, but are instead sent to a general pool , with different components from that overall supply then sent to nations signed up to the F-35 programme, including Israel. It had stated, as mentioned in this morning’s judgement, that the only way such a suspension could be achieved is if it suspended arms licensing on F-35 for all nations signed up to the F-35 programme, and that this “would have a profound and immediate impact on international peace and security, would undermine US confidence in the UK and NATO at a critical juncture, would seriously undermine the credibility of the UK as a trusted partner on the international stage, and would undermine a key capability allowing the UK and its closest allies and partners to address current security challenges.”
The judgement ended with the High Court justices recognising “the skill with which the Claimant’s arguments were presented”, but said that “once the true nature of the issue is identified, it is clear that the claim must fail. Accordingly permission to bring a judicial review claim is refused.”
