BICOM

A debate over restricting military sales to Israel is intensifying in Britain.

Former Conservative International Development secretary Andrew Mitchell has called for an arms embargo to “be considered”, following the call by Baroness Warsi to impose an embargo on Israel in her resignation letter.

Senior Liberal Democrats, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Business Secretary Vince Cable have also called for the scrapping of export licences for military equipment heading to Israel, which would be a de facto embargo.

The Labour Party has not called for an embargo, instead calling for a review of arms export licenses. This happens automatically after any conflict anywhere in the world, and Downing Street has indeed confirmed that a review of licenses is underway. The Times claims that some Labour MPs would reportedly rebel if asked to vote for an arms embargo against Israel.

An embargo would not be straightforward. A Channel 4 FactCheck blog notes that banning military sales to Israel would potentially risk sales with other allies totalling £620 million.

The biggest contracts between the UK and Israel are for “technology using cryptography”, this is communications technology used in Israel’s mobile phone network. However, because it could theoretically be used for military purposes, it would be threatened by an embargo. For this reason, a claimed “arms embargo” on Israel could translate into wider sanctions on UK high-tech sales to Israel.