Britain's complicity in the genocide and bombing of the Palestinian people in Gaza is continuing to be further revealed. In Gaza over 43,000 people have been killed with almost 70% of those killed women and children, with 96,0359 injured or wounded. With the invasion and bombing of Lebanon over 3,000 have been killed and over 14,000 injured over the last year. The untold suffering of the Palestinian and Lebanese people as a whole adds to the criminality. Britain has continued exporting components for use by the Israeli air force (IAF), since the gaps in the restrictions of the Labour government on arms exports in early September have allowed these continued arms sales. This is in addition to continued British flights over Gaza to provide intelligence and support for Israel's genocide against the Palestinians previously reported in Workers' Weekly [1].

According to recent articles in Declassified UK [2] parts for Israel's most advanced fighter jet F-35 have continued to be secretly shipped from a British military base in Norfolk with the sender Lockheed Martin UK Integrated Systems office which is based in Havant, near Portsmouth. Lockheed Martin is a major US arms corporation and the lead player in the international consortium that produces the F-35 fighter jets. The Labour government suspended 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel in early September, citing concerns over violations of international humanitarian law. However, the British components for the multinational F-35 joint strike fighter programme were excluded from the decision, "except when going directly to Israel", which in reality makes no difference as they can get exported by a third party. Over 15% of each plane is manufactured in the UK.

Emily Apple from Campaign Against the Arms Trade commented on the Declassified UK research: "These revelations show clearly that the Labour government is still complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza.

"Despite the government admitting that Israel has used F-35s to commit war crimes, it has provided massive loopholes, with zero accountability, to allow companies to continue exporting components.

"Due to the lack of transparency in UK arms exports, there is no accountability in this system, and therefore no guarantees that this equipment won't be used by the Israeli military to commit atrocities in Gaza". The government's carve-out for F-35 exports is set to be challenged at the High Court on November 18 by Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq and the Global Legal Action Network [3].

Notes
[1] The Truth about UK Airbase in Cyprus
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-24/ww24-25/ww24-25-03.htm
UK military has flown 200 spy missions over Gaza in support of Israel
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-24/ww24-10/ww24-10-03.htm
[2] F-35 components sent to Israel from Royal Air Force base - Declassified UK, October 31
https://www.declassifieduk.org/f-35-components-sent-to-israel-from-royal-air-force-base/
UK exported parts for Israeli air force after suspending arms sales - Declassified UK, November 13
https://www.declassifieduk.org/britain-exported-parts-for-israeli-air-force-after-suspending-arms-sales/
[3] UK Weapons Sales to Israel - Global Legal Action Network (GLAN)
https://www.glanlaw.org/israel-weapons-sales

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