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Arms trade news

Grim reading in Campaign Against the Arms Trade’s latest newsletter

May 2025

The CAAT Newsletter (Spring 2025, Issue 272) has details of what’s happening in the world of arms sales a world in which the UK is a big player. Our previous post discussed the continuing sale of arms to Israel which is subject to an Appeal Court hearing starting on 13th. Also we mentioned the role of the RAF in carrying out hundreds of flights over Gaza and quite what is being done with the information gleaned is not revealed.

Arms sales are important for several reasons. Weapons have an enormous capacity to do great harm in the wrong hands. Governments need to exert great control over licensing to ensure that arms do not fall into such hands. British governments are frequently to be heard claiming it exercises ‘robust’ controls. It is doubtful that this is the case and CAAT have often noted the considerable use of open licences which means little effective control exists.

The current Labour government has a policy of growth which seems to dominate thinking. As the court case will reveal, and papers have already revealed, this seems to trump considerations of human rights. CAAT News has the following examples:

The Defence Secretary has held meetings with counterparts in Saudi Arabia and Turkey to discuss opportunities for expanding military cooperation which is likely to involve arms sales. Both countries have woeful human rights records. Saudi has a full array of violations including public executions, use of torture, restrictions on women’s rights and repression of any opposition or free speech. Turkey has carried out baseless prosecutions against journalists, human rights defenders and opposition leaders, thousands of whom are in gaol.
Eurofighter sales – which the UK co-produces – are planned for Qatar and Turkey. The latter is involved in bombing Kurdish groups in its own country and Iraq. Qatar is another repressive Gulf state and is highly corrupt.
We have noted before the question of the Revolving Door where politicians, ministers, senior civil servants and military personnel leave their posts and head off for lucrative appointments/directorships/consultancies with arms firms. It is an open invitation for corruption and the ACOBA system seems powerless to stop it. The Aerospace, Defence and Security Group, (ADS) the trade body for the defence industry representing all of the major arms makers, holds an annual dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in which, in the words of CAAT ‘The dinner’s purpose is to introduce them to one another and allow them to schmooze and entertain their powerful friends from Parliament and the Civil Service‘ … These kinds of dinners are where relationships are formed and built and where the next round of arms deals are made, over fine food and wines.’
And it doesn’t end there. The Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) resumes in September at the ExCel Centre in London. This may be the largest such exhibition in the world. It is popular because the UK government invites representatives from a wide range of countries including those with appalling human rights records, some even on its own watch list. The thousands of attendees will be met by ‘a cast of compliant senior civil servants and politicians on hand to make sure things run smoothly’ (CAAT).
… or even there because the Farnborough International Exhibition and Conference Centre is to host Security and Policing run by the Home Office. Again, a range of countries with dreadful human rights are cordially invited to view the latest in surveillance, tear gas and ammunition. Journalists are banned. Britain seems happy to be host to regimes who use this equipment to repress and intimidate oppositions, journalists or human rights people.

Growth or rights?

The government seems keen to actively support these activities and to do all it can to promote arms and surveillance equipment to repressive regimes. It does this while piously claiming that:

This Government is fully committed to the protection of human rights both at home and abroad. We are committed to the international human rights framework and the important role that multilateral organisations like the Council of Europe play in upholding it. (Ministry of Justice, November 2024, ref: CP 1192)

It is hard to square the multi-level activities to promote arms sales and in the process currying favour with some of the world’s worst regimes, with their stated desire to be upholders of human rights and the wellbeing of those at the end of it all. While politicians, civil servants, military brass and ministers ‘schmooze’ with the arms manufacturers in expensive London hotels, it may be hard for them to empathise with those who have been bombed, starved, driven from their homes or incarcerated, tortured or executed for no reason. All facilitated by the weapons and equipment they so admire whilst quaffing the Bollinger. Is it growth above all else?

Sources include: CAAT, The Canary, Amnesty

#armsFair #armsSales #CAAT #DSEI #Farnborough #government #PoliceAndSecurity #revolvingDoor

High Court to decide on arms to Israel

The appeal is to be heard on May 13

May 2025

The appeal against the government’s decision to continue to supplying Israel with arms – and in particular, components for the F-35 – will be heard in the High Court starting on May 13th. The government is in something of a bind. The actions by Israel in Gaza are widely deplored and many contend amount to a war crime and genocide. But to offend the Americans by curtailing supplies of components for the F-35 used in Gaza is almost unthinkable for the government desperate as it is to curry favour with the Americans.

The action is being brought by Al Haq a human rights organisation based in Ramallah, and Global Legal Action Network consisting of lawyers and investigators which identifies and pursues legal actions against those involved in human rights violations. They have been joined by Amnesty, Oxfam GB and Human Rights Watch.

The latest edition of Campaign Against the Arms Trade (Issue 272, Spring 2025) discusses the issue of continuing military aid to Israel. It notes that ‘even our government has been forced to admit that is assesses Israel is not committed to complying with International Humanitarian Law‘. The case will be the biggest legal test of UK exports to Israel to date. They highlight an article in the Guardian by a former Foreign Office diplomat who described continued attempts by ministers to stonewall or play down evidence of what is happening in Gaza.

Over 52,000 have now been killed in the conflict. There are now reports of 57 deaths due to malnutrition mainly of children, the sick or the elderly. No aid is allowed in including food and necessary medical supplies. This has been the case now for over 60 days. Aid agencies stocks are depleted. A gloomy picture is painted on the situation in Haaretz.

We will follow the court case with great interest.

In addition to the supply of arms, there is the question of involvement of the RAF which has carried out over 250 overflights of Gaza (Declassified says 500). The chief of defence staff, Sir Tony Radakin was asked by a reporter from Declassified whether the RAF’s activities meant they were participating in Israel’s operations in Gaza? Answer came there none. They are not alone and the article reports that backbench MPs have sought answers without success. It is disturbing that the RAF are seemingly deeply involved in what is happening.

#armsSales #CAAT #F35 #Gaza #government #HighCourt #RAF

Don't miss the upcoming workshop within the Animal-Free Series for Early-Career Researchers!

It's a webinar on April 9, 2025:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/animal-free-series-for-early-career-researchers-workshop-no-2-tickets-1251972927729

#Berlin #CAAT #Medicine #Animals #Humans #Research #Health #Humanity #JohnsHopkinsUniversity #PublicHealth #AnimalProtection #VeterinarySciences #Biology #LifeSciences #Antibodies

Rafael Advanced “Defense” (of profits) Systems https://caat.org.uk/data/companies/rafael/

More about
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Advanced_Defense_Systems

#antimilitarism #armstrade #CAAT #militaryindustrialcomplex #Rafael

Arms trade news

Campaign Against the Arms Trade was established 50 years ago

January 2025

CAAT was formed 50 years ago, (the same year our local Amnesty group was formed). Their overriding vision is “A just, peaceful and sustainable world built on foundations of equity and solidarity“. Their latest News Letter is published, issue 271, and amongst other things contains a review of events with an arms perspective over the half century since they were formed. We feature their work from time to time on this site because arms are a key element in conflicts around the world. Looking at wars in Sudan, Ukraine, Gaza and other theatres, we see the destruction weapons cause to communities, women, children and other non-combatants. Buildings are destroyed and people are killed or injured by the weapons used. The UK is a major supplier of weapons and claims, somewhat dubiously, to have a ‘very robust regime’ of controls, while at the same time granting ‘open’ licences enabling arms dealers to circumvent them. Human rights are greatly damaged by the arms industry.

The review reminds us of the war in Nigeria and it is probable that younger readers may not be aware of the war there which focused on Biafra. It took place between 1976-70 and was around the desire by the region of Biafra to form its own state. Britain had been the colonial power and was a major arms supplier to the country. The effects were terrible and a blockade led to the death of millions of Biafrans. Between half a million and 2 million Biafrans died in the conflict. It was one of the first wars to be televised and images of the suffering were seen around the world. Apparently, the malnutrition disease Kwashiorkor, was called the ‘Harold Wilson syndrome’ after the then UK prime minister. Images of children with distended bellies, which is a symptom, shocked the world.

A lot has changed over the 50 years: or has it? The fall of the Soviet Union, the rise of China, the ‘global war on terror’ following the attack on the Twin Towers in New York are just some of the key events. Britain, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, has steadily slid down the ranks of arms sellers and now lies approximately seventh. However, taking into account components and military services not counted by SIPRI, the nation is around fourth and on a par with Russia. CAAT do not directly draw attention to the significant role of the City of London which facilitates the movement of money around the world.

Political factors

What has remained constant over the years is the role of the arms industry and its close links to government of all stripes. Arms sales are important for several reasons. Firstly because of the jobs it creates. CAAT for example has a feature on the county of Lancashire in England where BAE Systems is based at two sites in Warton and Samlesbury. The company has developed close links with Lancaster University. Secondly, exports and arms are one of the few areas which show a trade surplus.

The industry has a huge lobbying operation and previous CAAT newsletters have highlighted the revolving door – or open plan office as they are now terming it – through which a large number of senior military personnel, civil servants and some politicians pass through on their way to lucrative directorships or consultancies with the arms companies. This is an invitation to corruption. The arguments over arms supplies to Israel has revealed government ministers reluctant to call a spade a spade. Frightened of upsetting both the industry and the Americans, they continue to allow components for the F-35 despite its use to cause devastation to large parts of Gaza. The industry enjoys too much power and the interests, lives and rights of those who suffer from its wares are barely considered.

#armsSales #ArmsTrade #CAAT #revolvingDoor

Questionable logic by David Lammy

David Lammy suggests insufficient numbers killed in Gaza to merit calling it genocide

January 2025

As part of a statement to the House of Commons on 28 October 2024, in an answer to a question about claims by some Labour MPs about the alleged policy of genocide, annihilation and extermination of Palestinians in Gaza, the Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “These are legal terms, and they must be determined by international courts. I agree with [Nick Timothy MP] that those terms were largely used when millions of people lost their lives in crises such as Rwanda and the Holocaust of the second world war. The way that people are now using those terms undermines their seriousness [Citation: HC Deb, 28 October 2024, C556].

Genocide is not about numbers killed

Lammy is completely wrong about this. Genocide is not defined by numbers killed. Article II of the Genocide Convention makes clear it is about killing members of a group (a); causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (b) and deliberately inflicting on to a group conditions calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part (c). Numbers killed is not mentioned. Is Lammy suggesting that if yet more are killed, some kind of threshold will be reached at which point they will deem it genocide?

The minister will be well aware of the many reports concerning actions in Gaza. Organisations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, Médicins sans Frontières, the UN and various agencies of the UN, have all produced copious details about what is happening there.

David Lammy also states that the current situation began on October 7th 2023 with the Hamas raid into Israel killing over 2,000 Israelis and taking over 200 hostages. There is no dispute about the horror of this attack and that Hamas committed a war crime. But the history of this conflict did not begin on October 7th but in 1948.

The debate is about the Israeli response and the killing of large numbers of civilians, women and children and whether this level of killing is proportionate to the threat they face. The death toll is now around 46,000. Despite this evidence ‘the government is unable to conclude whether Israel’s bombing campaign and military operations in general violate International Humanitarian Law‘.

There have been many calls for the UK to end arms sales to Israel. The government has suspended 30 licences but parts for the F-35 continued to be made. It is this aircraft which is used to bomb Gaza. It has allowed many ‘open licences’ which does not identify weaponry and according to CAAT ‘leaves holes you can fly and F-35 through’ (CAAT News, Issue 271).

The government is frightened of upsetting the Americans by stopping F-35 parts being made in the UK. With Donald Trump to become the president in a few days, cancelling the contract is politically impossible for them. It also shows the power of the arms industry to call the shots as far as government policy is concerned. In the same debate Lammy claims that ‘we have one of the most robust export licensing regimes in the world’. Despite this, evidence shows that large amounts of military equipment is finding its way to Israel. His statement to the House is a nonsense.

#Arms #CAAT #DavidLammy #F35 #Gaza #Israel #Palestinians

Arms sales and the revolving door

New report from the Campaign Against the Arms Trade reveals extent of this activity

November 2024

[ADDED: 16 December] If you want to see ministers squirm in front of a select committee when discussing arms sales to Israel (via USA) watch this YouTube video. Usual claims of ignorance and unable to answer basic questions. Even though the RAF is regularly flying over Gaza, it seems they are unaware of the destruction as the purpose they say is to look for hostages.

The question of arms sales has risen up the political agenda partly because of the question of whether we should continue to sell weapons to Israel. It also cropped up with the decision recently to award a GCVO to the King of Bahrain presented by King Charles. It was also an issue during the war in Yemen where British weapons and personnel were involved in helping Saudi in their ferocious bombing campaign in that country. All these and other examples revealed an industry with considerable political influence. They result in a distortion of our political process and an almost complete disregard for the effects of the arms on people at the end of them. The destruction being carried on in Gaza is facilitated by the continuing sale of F-35 aircraft elements of which are made in the UK. An ‘ethical dimension’ to our policy seems to be a thing of the past. There is little sign that arms sales are restricted to states which ignore human rights or International Humanitarian Law.

Not so much a revolving door as an ‘open plan office’

Campaign Against the Arms Trade CAAT has campaigned on these issues for many years and their current magazine, Issue 270, Autumn 2024 contains a number of articles on the topic of arms. One concerns what has been known as the ‘revolving door’. In an article ‘Government and Arms Industry Joined at the Hip’, they explore the deeply compromising nature of this relationship. They have published a report From Revolving Door to Open Plan Office: the Ever Closer Union Between the UK Government and the Arms Industry. They argue that the arms industry has become so deeply embedded in the government that the boundary has almost disappeared. It is now not so much a revolving door as an ‘open plan office’. 40% of top military staff and civilian personnel leaving the MOD hold positions in the arms and security industries. Transparency International research shows that one company, BAE, had more meetings with ministers and with Prime Ministers than any other company.

Private Eye carried out an extensive survey in 2016. This went into great detail and named names.

Why does it matter?

It matters for three main reasons:

Firstly, arms cause great misery for millions of people. The harrowing images on news programmes of property destruction, dead bodies, lines of people on the move or rows of tents housing displaced people are the result of the activities of this trade,
The lobbying power is such that government ministers seem to fall into line almost as soon as they assume power. Grand statements by Sir Keir Starmer and David Lammy for example are quickly forgotten as the next trade deal is signed. The arms trade seems to wield enormous power and influence over government policy,
Thirdly, the ‘open plan office’ means senior staff in the Civil Service and in the MOD and armed services are keeping an eye on prospects as they approach retirement. Lucrative board appointments and ‘consultancy’ contracts await them. Are they going to ask uncomfortable questions or raise difficulties with an arms contract and jeopardise these prospects?

As CAAT put it:

‘When these ‘revolvers’ leave public service for the arms trade, they take with them extensive contacts and privileged access. As current government decision-makers are willing to meet and listen to former Defence Ministers and ex-Generals, particularly if they used to work with them, this increases the arms trade’s already excessive influence over our government’s actions.

‘On top of this, there is the risk that government decision-makers will be reluctant to displease arms companies as this could ruin their chances of landing a lucrative arms industry job in the future. Beyond individual decisions, the traffic from government to the private sector, and vice versa, is part of a process where the public interest becoming conflated with corporate interest, so that it becomes normal to unquestioningly meet, collaborate and decide policy with the arms industry, then take work with it.’

#Arms #CAAT #Salisbury

The Container Ship Conspiracy?

Container shipping company MAERSK:
'There’s too many container ships.'

Meanwhile...
"Shipping industry groups call for action after Houthis sink second vessel."

Image source:
https://g.co/finance/MAERSK-B:CPH?window=1Y

Article:
Al Jazeera, 19 June 2024
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/19/shipping-industry-groups-call-for-action-after-houthis-sink-second-vessel

#houthi #yemen #Palestine #Iran #conspiracy #oversupply #shipping #maritime #maersk #wef #foodsecurity #costofliving #costoflivingcrisis #caat #armstrade #armsindustry #defenceindustry

https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/06/17/palestine-action-targets-kent-arms-factory-and-scotiabank-offices-in-london/

Campaign Against the Arms Trade
https://caat.org.uk/app/uploads/2023/11/Fact-sheet-re-Gaza-2023-11-14.pdf

Update
https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/06/19/arms-factory-invaders-told-they-caused-1million-in-damage/

#PalestineAction #directaction #solidarity #Gaza #ScotiaBank
#Elbit #InstroPrecision
#MilitaryIndustrialComplex #CAAT

Shut The System
https://freedomnews.org.uk/2024/06/10/shut-the-system-and-palestine-action-smash-20-barclays-branches/

Elbit - Who Profits ? https://www.whoprofits.org/index.php?/companies/company/3794

AFSC on Elbit
https://investigate.afsc.org/company/elbit-systems

CAAT on Barclays Bank
https://caat.org.uk/app/uploads/2024/05/Barclays-report-May-2024-v3-FINAL.pdf

Palestine Action
https://palestineaction.org/

#antimilitarism #BarclaysBank #ceasefire #Elbit #Gaza #MilitaryIndustrialComplex #Palestine
#AFSC #WhoProfits #CAAT #ShutTheSystem #PalestineAction

Weapons factory app rejected

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqq5z1nwwvo

L3Harris the 12th largest arms manufacturer in the world profits from Israel’s war on Palestine. Their bomb release mechanisms are supplied to #LockheedMartin #F16 and #F35 fighter jets used on #Gaza.

Mayday blockade action
https://caat.org.uk/news/media-release-following-may-day-international-solidarity-actions-activists-in-brighton-blockade-the-entrance-to-the-l3harris-arms-factor/

Map
https://caat.org.uk/data/countries/israel/mapped-all-the-uk-companies-manufacturing-components-for-israels-f35-combat-aircraft/

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L3Harris

Workers for a Free #Palestine (#WFP) #CAAT #antimilitarism
#solidarity #CeaseFire #Militaryindustrialcomplex
#L3Harris #Brighton

War Profiteers Raytheon, BAE Systems and Leonardo have all received six-figure grants from business agency Scottish Enterprise
https://theferret.scot/scottish-government-grants-arms-firms-israel/

(Scottish Enterprise “human rights checks” failed no firms )

Campaign Against Arms Trade #CAAT
https://caat.org.uk/app/uploads/2023/11/Fact-sheet-re-Gaza-2023-11-14.pdf

Edinburgh Leonardo Protest action https://theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2023/11/activists-enter-ferry-road-premises-of-edinburgh-firm-leonardo/

#AntiMilitarism #CeaseFire #MilitaryIndustrialComplex #BAE #Leonardo #Edinburgh #Raytheon #ScottishEnterprise
#Gaza #Palestine #Rafah