UK Official Resigns Over Arms Sales to Israel, Citing Complicity in War Crimes

A U.K. official resigned from his position in the Foreign Office on Friday over the government’s weapons transfers to Israel as it carries out its genocide in Gaza.

The former counterterrorism official, Mark Smith, worked on arms export licensing for the Middle East within the British Embassy in Dublin. In his resignation letter, which was first reported by journalist Hind Hassan, Smith said that he was deeply concerned about the U.K.’s support of the war crimes committed regularly by Israeli forces.

“It is with sadness that I resign after a long career in the diplomatic service, however I can no longer carry out my duties in the knowledge that this Department may be complicit in War Crimes,” Smith wrote.

Smith said that he had raised concerns that U.K. leaders were potentially flouting the law in order to continue sending weapons to Israel, but those concerns were rebuffed.

“There is no justification for the U.K.’s continued arms sales to Israel yet somehow it continues. I have raised this at every level in the organisation including through an official whistle blowing investigation and received nothing more than ‘thank you we have noted your concerns,’” said Smith.

“Ministers claim that the U.K. has one of the most ‘robust and transparent’ arms export licensing regimes in the world, however this is the opposite of the truth,” Smith continued. “As a fully cleared officer raising serious concerns of illegality in this Department, to be disregarded in this way is deeply troubling.”

The U.K. has been a benefactor for Israel’s military for decades, having granted export licenses for arms to Israel worth hundreds of millions of dollars since 2008. Between October and May, the U.K. has granted over 100 weapons export licenses to Israel. Many of these weapons build upon F-35s sent by the U.S., enhancing their ability to kill, according to research by the Campaign Against Arms Trade.

The U.K.’s export licenses represent a far smaller value than that of the U.S.’s military assistance to Israel, but it still represents a major diplomatic win for Israel on the world scale.

Public pressure for the U.K. to suspend weapons shipments has grown under the U.K.’s new Labour-controlled government, which has pivoted away from the Conservative government’s pro-Israel policies. Reports this month found that the government has seemingly suspended the application process for new arms sales, but it’s unclear whether the government is going to suspend shipments altogether.

In statements after his resignation, Smith said that it was “impossible” to say that Israel has fulfilled the criteria of avoiding civilian casualties that are required to receive U.K. license exports.

“Since Israel’s invasion of Gaza in October 2023 I have had grave concerns about the conduct of the war and the U.K.’s compliance not only with international law but with the U.K.’s own domestic arms sales legislation. I am also opposed to the U.K.’s tacit support of Israel’s occupation of Palestine,” he said, per The Independent.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Monday, Smith also said that it is “quite clear” that Israel is carrying out war crimes “in plain sight.”

Smith is one of several officials working on foreign affairs who has resigned in recent months over their government’s support of Israel’s genocide. At least a dozen U.S. officials in the federal government have publicly resigned over the U.S.’s complicity, with many saying that the Biden administration is purposefully circumventing domestic law regarding human rights in order to continue arming Israel.