Plaid Cymru calls for recall of UK Parliament to stop sale of weapons to Israel

Plaid Cymru has called for an immediate recall of the UK parliament following Israeli air strikes on Gaza aid workers which killed seven people.

On Monday, three UK citizens, an Australian, a Polish national, an American-Canadian dual citizen and a Palestinian died when an aid convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse.

They were all working for World Central Kitchen, a not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation that provides meals in the wake of natural disasters.

Plaid has also urged the UK Government to stop selling arms to Israel, saying that by continuing to do so it was “aiding in the killing of civilians”.

UK defence exports to Israel amounted to £42 million in 2022. Since 2008, the UK has licenced arms worth over £574 million to Israel, according to analysis of Government export data by Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), a UK based pressure group that seeks an end to the global arms trade.

Barbaric

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP, said: “The barbaric killing of aid workers in Gaza, three of whom were British nationals, is the latest atrocity in Gaza where over 30,000 civilians have died in the last six months.

“We must now see an immediate recall of Parliament to scrutinise the continued support of this war and of the sale of arms by the UK Government and the Labour opposition. All political parties represented in Westminster should be in the Chamber to hold to account the government’s reluctant response to the growing evidence of Israel state enabled targeted killings of innocent people.”

“The UK Government must stop the sale of weapons to Gaza immediately and stop aiding in the killing of so many innocent lives.”

Careful

Defending arms sales to Israel, amid calls for a ban, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the Sun Newspaper’s Never Mind the Ballots show: “I think we’ve always had a very careful export licensing regime that we adhere to.

“There are a set of rules, regulations and procedures that we’ll always follow, and I have been consistently clear with Prime Minister Netanyahu since the start of this conflict that while of course we defend Israel’s right to defend itself and its people against attacks from Hamas, they have to do that in accordance with international humanitarian law, protect civilian lives and, sadly, too many civilians have already lost their lives.

“Get more aid into Gaza. That’s what we’ve consistently called for and what we want to see actually is an immediate humanitarian pause to allow more aid in, and crucially the hostages to be released, and that’s what we’ll continue to push for.”

Lord Peter Ricketts, a former senior diplomat who chaired the Joint Intelligence Committee during the Blair government, had earlier said Israeli forces’ killing of the aid workers has sparked “global outrage” as he called for an “immediate ceasefire”.

The crossbench peer, who served as national security adviser between 2010 and 2012, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think there is abundant evidence now that Israel hasn’t been taking enough care to fulfil its obligations on the safety of civilians, and a country that gets arms from the UK has to comply with international humanitarian law, that is a condition of the arms export licensing policy.

“I think the time has come to send that signal.”