Thomas Harding & Lemma Shehadi
The National / July 26, 2024
Richard Hermer leads on giving legal advice to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and has been critical of Israeli breaches of international law.
Britain’s attorney general has visited Israel this week for talks with top officials to discuss the Labour government’s changing policies on the Gaza conflict that includes a looming ban on arms exports, The National can disclose.
Richard Hermer made the low-key trip on Thursday to make clear to the Israeli government that the UK would not be pursuing the previous Conservative government’s objections to the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Friday, Downing Street said it would not pursue the issue, having taken the stance that the ICC itself should decide on its own charges.
But it is also understood that he has raised the issue of Britain imposing a ban of arms exports, currently worth about $42 million a year, that would raise “significant diplomatic concerns”, Israeli sources said.
In an early sign of changing position, Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government last week restored Britain’s $27 million funding to the UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, after it was suspended over allegations of links to Hamas.
Discrete talks
Hermer’s trip is significant as he leads on giving legal advice to the Prime Minister, more so in his case as he is a close confidante of Starmer, both having served in the same law chambers.
The barrister, who is Jewish and has family members serving in Israel’s military, has previously spoken out, before entering government, against alleged Israeli breaches of international law, including its “siege on electricity, water and food in Gaza”.
His precise conversations with the Israeli government have yet to be fully disclosed – the attorney general’s office refused to even confirm or deny that he was in Israel – but sources said the ICC and arms licences were high on the agenda. Israeli officials acknowledged the meetings had taken place.
Abandoning its legal challenge to the ICC’s case against Netanyahu is considered by the government as respecting the independence of the court in light of the decision of Karim Khan, the court’s chief prosecutor, to issue arrest warrants against the Israeli Prime Minister for war crimes in Gaza. “I can confirm the government will not be pursuing in line with our long standing position that this is a matter for the court to decide on,” a Downing St spokesman said.
Arms ban agenda
The significance of a potential ban revolves around its largely symbolic impact, owing to the small size of the UKs arm trade with Israel, said Lord David Wolfson, a barrister and Conservative peer.
“The arms sold to Israel are small,” he told The National. “It’s all about signaling a position.”
Rather, he warned that security relations between the UK and Israel were at stake, should the Labour government proceed with more pressure.
“The real risk – and what we must avoid – is that it imperils the intelligence co-operation between the two countries,” said Lord Wolfson.
Israel relied on UK and US intelligence to repel the April attacks from Tehran. Any embargo on Israel arms sales is likely to be linked to those weapons deemed to be deployed in the Gaza conflict.
“It can only be hoped that Hermer will maintain his previous positions and not support an opposition to the arrest warrants,” said Elise Lauriot Prevost, a human rights lawyer at Global Rights Compliance based in The Hague.
Experts pointed out that the UK’s trade relations with Israel, worth about $5 billion, and the UK’s veto powers at the UN Security Council, meant that Israel would probably take heed of the shift in attitude.
Arms decision soon
David Lammy, Britain’s Foreign Secretary who last week restored the UNRWA funding describing Gaza as “hell on earth”, will disclose the government’s legal advice on arms sales potentially early next week.
Foreign Office ministers face questions in the British Parliament on Tuesday when politicians opposed to continuing exports expect answers on the demands for an about-turn on the Conservative position.
UK lawyers have told The National that the UK government should “suspend, revoke and refuse all arms licences” to Israel.
“If there is a clear risk that arms transferred to Israel from Britain may be used to facilitate or commit serious violation of international law, this would breach the UK’s own laws, as well as its international obligations,” said Anna Gallina, also a lawyer at Global Rights Compliance.
She added that arms export licences could not be granted “if there is a clear risk that UK weapons might be used for serious violations” of international law.
But Israeli sources do not believe that the arms ban will happen soon and might only come into place if the Israeli forces “sadly, mess up in a big way with a mass civilian casualty event” that would trigger it.
Change in attitude
The change of position in the ICC case and consideration that it might publish official legal advice on arms exports comes after Labour suffered electoral reversals among Britain’s three million Muslim voters over its apparent pro-Israeli position on Gaza.
But it is now clearly moving away from that, said Lauriot Prevost.
“There is certainly a shift in stance between the current government and the former Conservative party. The Labour government is placing more importance on international law and humanitarian aid than their predecessors.”
Professor Yossi Mekelberg of the Chatham House think tank agreed that the reversals were part of a “change in attitude”.
“There is definitely a change in tone,” he said. “Israel’s allies are trying to increase the pressure, because they feel don’t have an impact diplomatically.”
The arrest decision comes despite pressure from the US and Israel, who are not signatories to the ICC, for Britain to continue its objections to the court’s decision.
However, the UK’s ICC move has been overtaken after Germany, a close ally of Israel, signaled it would lodge its opposition to the arrest warrant by making legal arguments that will likely lead to a delay for consideration before they can be issued.
The charity UK Lawyers for Israel and Israel-based organizations are expected to challenge the prosecutor’s request on similar grounds to the UK’s initial appeal, reports suggest.
ICC arrest warrants have also been issued for Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh for the October 7 terrorist attacks.
Arms ban questioned
While the ICC decision will go ahead, analysts in Israel with links to the UK believe that the arms issue is not yet prominent.
Richard Pater, director of the Jerusalem-based Bicom think tank, said he believed that the UK review of legal advice would make the position clearer when it comes.
“We’ll understand exactly then whether it’s a total freeze, partial freeze or permanent freeze, but feel it’s too early. We don’t yet know what’s coming down the track,” he said.
“My current assessment is that the UK will maintain a balanced position towards Israel and the Palestinians.”
Thomas Harding – Security and Policy Editor, London
Lemma Shehadi – Senior Correspondent, London
