Open Letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy calling for an Immediate Arms Embargo on Israel

Dear Foreign Secretary,

We, the undersigned organisations, are writing to you with grave concern about the UK government’s continued arms exports to Israel amid escalating atrocities in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

We acknowledge and welcome the UK’s decision to suspend new free trade negotiations with Israel and to impose sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements. These steps and your statement condemning Israel’s actions as “morally unjustifiable” reflect a growing international recognition of the scale and severity of the crisis. But they are not enough.

More than 53,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, including over 15,000 children. The United Nations reports that every hospital in Gaza has been damaged or destroyed. The World Health Organization warns that 2 million people are starving, and 14,000 babies could die in the next 48 hours if action is not taken to put an end the humanitarian crisis. Over 1.9 million people have been forcibly displaced and Gaza’s health system has collapsed. This is evidence of a deliberate and devastating assault on a civilian population, widely recognised by legal experts and human rights bodies as constituting genocide.

Despite this, UK arms exports to Israel have soared. Between October and December 2024, the UK approved £127.6 million in arms export licences, more than in the previous three years combined. These weapons risk facilitating or contributing to serious violations of International Humanitarian Law. Continuing to supply arms under these conditions not only breaches the UK’s own export control criteria but also its obligations under international humanitarian and human rights law.

We therefore call on you to urgently:

• Impose an immediate arms embargo on Israel

• Suspend all existing export licences for military equipment

• Publicly acknowledge the scale of the humanitarian catastrophe and the ongoing  genocide

The UK must not be complicit in war crimes and the destruction of Gaza. We urge you to act decisively and immediately.

Yours sincerely,

Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND)
Muslim Council of Britain
Huddersfield Freedom for Palestine
The Muslim Vote
Kirklees community independents group
5PILLARS
Mvslim
Muslim Council of Scotland
Lighthouse Advocacy
Huddersfield Council of Mosques
Muslim Association of Britain
Bradford Calderdale and Huddersfield Health Unison
Scousers for Palestine
Liverpool Solidarity Collective
FOSIS
Humanity
British Palestinian Families Network
Huddersfield Council of Mosques
Muslim Public Affairs Forum Committee- MPAC UK
The Thinking Muslim
Manchester stop the war coalition
National Education Union.
PKWA
Huddersfield Community First
The Revival Magazine
Penn Faraday Solicitors
Suffolk Unite Community
Ipswich and South Suffolk NEU
Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust
Government
Cheadle Masjid
Love and Awesome
Palestine Solidarity Campaign Cymru
Muslim Welfare Institute
AL HASHIM ACADEMY
PACE (People’s Alliance for Change and Equality) Kirklees
Markazi Jamia Masjid Ghausia
Rabetah Al Ulema Al Islamiyyah