UK accused of being ‘complicit’ in Gaza deaths after giving Elbit new contract
Posted: 16th February 2024
The UK government has been accused of being “totally complicit” in the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Gaza after handing a fresh round of public cash to the British arm of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit.
A Ministry of Defence contract dated 17 January represents the first time Britain has struck a deal with Elbit’s UK subsidiary since Israel laid siege to Gaza following the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
Elbit reportedly supplies up to 85% of Israel’s drones and land-based military equipment, describing its Hermes 450 drones – which have been used by Israel for strikes on Hamas targets in Gaza in recent months – as “the backbone of the Israeli Defence Forces”.
The arms firm’s chief executive, Bezhalel Machlis, said in November that it had “ramped up” its weapons production “in support of the Israel MOD [Ministry of Defence] and Israel’s security forces”.
Such actions mean the UK government must end all involvement with Elbit, said Samuel Sweek, a spokesperson for Peace and Justice Project, a UK-based campaign group founded by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Sweek told openDemocracy: “Awarding contracts to Israeli arms manufacturers such as Elbit, whose products are being used in the genocidal destruction of Gaza, shows an unrepentant and reprehensible attitude at the top levels of the British government.U
“Until they shut down the war machine, call for a permanent ceasefire and an end to the occupation of Palestine, they remain totally complicit in the deaths of over 30,000 innocent men, women and children in Gaza.”
Elbit’s Systems UK has won 25 public contracts, totalling more than £355m, since 2012, according to data supplied by Tussell, which provides details on UK government contracts.
Its latest contract, which is worth £25,000, was awarded four days after thousands marched through central London to call for a ceasefire in Gaza as part of a global day of action last month.
The contract was to deliver training and simulation to American, Lithuanian and NATO military personnel as part of ‘Exercise Furious Wolf’, which focuses on aerial warfare against ‘hostile targets’.
Palestine Action has previously claimed Elbit has won UK training and simulation contracts as a result of its performances in Israel. A spokesperson for the protest network told openDemocracy that countries that contract and work with Elbit are “complicit in genocide”.
The spokesperson also told openDemocracy that the group would do everything in its power to make the latest contract “an impossible one to fulfil”.
“We successfully compromised a £280m contract with Elbit and the UK’s Ministry of Defence. It can be done again,” the spokesperson said, referring to protests in 2022 that the group claims resulted in Elbit losing two UK public contracts worth a combined £280.
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Both Elbit and the government have denied Palestine Action played a role in the contracts’ withdrawal, with justice secretary Alex Chalk claiming the decision related to “revised operational sovereignty standards”.
Gearóid Ó Cuinn, the director of the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), which is taking the UK government to court over its refusal to stop exports of arms to Israel, called on British ministers to review their contracts with Elbit and all other arms dealers.
Ó Cuinn said: “The International Court of Justice has found there to be a real and imminent risk of genocide in Gaza.
“The UK is legally required to prevent genocide and ought to immediately halt weapons exports to Israel and, furthermore, make a legal assessment of all contracts with arms exporters who may be complicit in aiding and abetting atrocity crimes.”
Raytheon, one of the US’s largest weapons makers, also won government contracts relating to space surveillance and tracking in November, Tussell told openDemocracy.
The platform said it had seen 87 contracts, worth more than £6m, awarded to the US firm since 2012.
“It is sickening that arms manufacturers always rack up record returns from wars and shameful that their shareholders profit as a result,” said a spokesperson of the Stop the War Coalition, a co-organiser of the weekly pro-Palestine demonstrations that have been taking place across the UK since October.
“Wars are fought by big powers and it is big business that benefits, with ordinary people always the victims,” they said of Elbit’s latest contract.
Neither the Ministry of Defence nor Elbit Systems UK responded to openDemocracy’s request.