Research reveals arms sold to Israel for re-export never were
April 2026
Selling arms carries with it the risk that they will be used not for legitimate purposes of defence but for illegal or offensive actions and the killing of innocent people. They can contribute to the tens of millions of displaced people and refugees who flee persecution or civil wars. As a member of the Security Council and a major exporter of arms, the UK has a particular responsibility to ensure arms go to where they are intended and do not end up in the hands of countries or parties engaged in civil wars or insurrection.
The UK is seriously falling down in this duty and arguably, knows it to be the case. It seems more concerned with boosting exports and less interested in where or with whom the weapons end up. In a previous post we commented on the weak controls on arms sales to the UAE which evidence strongly suggest end up in the hands of Sudanese rebels, the RSF. in this post we discuss evidence of arms sales to Israel being used on the Golan Heights illegally occupied by Israel since 1967.
Both are aspects of the same problem: weapons supposedly going to a friendly power being sent on to one which isn’t or are being misused. The evidence seems to suggest a lack of control or curiosity by government and civil servants. In both cases the weapons have caused a huge number of deaths and injury.
Re-export loophole
The Campaign Against the Arms Trade and Declassified UK have unearthed some shady practice concerning weapons sales to Israel. A £120 million transaction involving components was concluded for arms to go to Israel for onward export to Romania. Only they didn’t. The licences were for Watchkeeper drone (pictured) components by Elbit Systems, the Israeli arms company with plants in the UK. Elbit then quietly, they suggest, repeatedly issued a force majeure clause thus preventing the component leaving Israel. [The Declassified report also discusses the issue of waste which is outside our human rights brief].
CAAT and Declassified wrote to the Business and Trade sub-Committee on Economic Security and Export Controls asking for an investigation. Their work has revealed that the UK has zero ‘end-use monitoring’ allowing arms companies to divert weapons with near impunity. The government still claims it has ‘robust monitoring’ in place which seems utterly absurd and at variance with the evidence.
Following these investigations, Romania has threatened to cancel a $400m contract with Elbit Systems whereupon Elbit says it will begin delivery. Can they be trusted?
It seems clear that UK controls on sales are lax or almost non-existent. The lack of end-user monitoring and issuing open licences means arms end up almost anywhere. The desire to sustain arms sales and the UK’s arms industry seems to trump issues of humanity and the death and destruction that these weapons cause. Claims of robust controls are absurd and dishonest.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 
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