The UK’s refusal to ban arms exports to Israel - podcast

On Friday, the British diplomat Mark Smith resigned from the Foreign Office over the UK government’s arms sales to Israel, saying they “may be complicit in war crimes”.

In his resignation email, he said: “Whole streets and universities have been demolished, humanitarian aid is being blocked and civilians are regularly left with no safe quarter to flee to. Red Crescent ambulances have been attacked, schools and hospitals are regularly targeted. These are war crimes.”

The Labour government has launched a review into its arms policy, but has not made any decisions so far. Smith’s resignation has intensified pressure on the government to justify its refusal to ban arms exports to Israel.

“It’s the first occasion we’ve known about dissent within the Foreign Office,” the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, tells Lucy Hough. “He says that he’s been raising this issue internally, including through the formal mechanisms, as well as in a letter to the current foreign secretary, and largely he was receiving replies to the effect that ‘we note your concerns’ and nothing more.”

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) told the Guardian the government was committed to upholding international law. Israel denies it is committing war crimes, and insists it is acting in self-defence.