Miliband all talk on Israeli sanctions, campaigners say

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Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) spoke out today after it emerged that the “double lock” on arms sales to Israel announced by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on September 8 had no impact whatsoever.

In response to a parliamentary question, the government confirmed that the first lock, a review of arms sales to ensure compliance with UK and international law, introduced in September 2024 had led to 29 licences being suspended and 56 licences being refused.

The same answer, however, reveals the new second lock, which aims to weed out exports used in illegal activities such as Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, has seen no further licences suspended since it was introduced last month, despite Mr Miliband’s claims at the Labour conference his government had reset its approach.

CAAT spokesman Leo Verity said: “Government recognition of ethnic cleansing, Israeli settler-terrorism and of the illegality of the occupation is the first step to ending UK complicity. 

“But for the brutalised Palestinian people, all that matters is action, on arms sales and beyond. 

“Right now it seems that the Burnham government is hot on talk but cold on action, with the ‘double lock’ on arms to Israel looking more like ‘doubling down’.”

The Foreign Secretary has also come under pressure from Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who has written to Mr Miliband amid speculation that the Rosebank oil and gas field could soon be greenlit.

Pointing out that the field’s main developer, Ithaca Energy, is a subsidiary of the Delek Group, a firm blacklisted by Britain for operating in illegal Israeli settlements, Mr Polanski said: “Rosebank is a test of whether Labour’s proposed sanctions regime is fit for purpose.  

“Companies blacklisted by the UN for operating in the illegal settlements should not be financed by oil and gas revenues from the North Sea.

“This should be a red line, and yet the government seems to be getting ready to greenlight Rosebank. 

“Not only is Rosebank incompatible with our obligations under international law, but it is also incompatible with a safe and liveable climate.”

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was contacted for comment.

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