Declassified UK

Lammy jets off to Israel

This week, David Lammy paid a quiet visit to Israel – his third trip to the country since becoming UK foreign secretary in July.

The trip was not announced in advance nor publicised by the UK government, leaving the public to learn about Lammy’s visit through social media posts by Israeli officials.

Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn responded to the secretive nature of Lammy’s trip by declaring that the foreign secretary must “turn up in parliament immediately so we can ask him questions”.

The first of these questions might relate to Lammy’s choice of engagements in Israel.

He was accompanied at the airport by the Israeli ambassador in London, Tzipi Hotovely, who suggested last year that “every school, every mosque, every second house” in Gaza was a legitimate target for Israel.

Shortly after landing in Israel, Lammy met with Israeli politician Yair Golan, who previously declared, in response to Hamas’ 7 October attack: “We need to say to them: listen, until the [captives] are released, from our side, you can die from starvation. It’s totally legitimate”.

He also held a rendezvous with Gideon Sa’ar, Israel’s foreign minister who declared in November 2023: “Gaza must be smaller after the war, [not only for security reasons, but because] it’s the price of loss that the Arabs understand”.

In other words, the senior Israeli officials Lammy met during his travels last weekend have all openly endorsed the commission of war crimes against Palestinians.

There is no evidence these declarations were raised by Lammy. Instead, the discussions focussed on such issues as “the Iranian threat, Syria and Lebanon”, as well as “negotiations for a hostage deal”.

Lammy also called on Israel to “prevent the further collapse of humanitarian operations in Gaza” – a characteristically empty gesture given the Israeli government’s modus operandi has been to deepen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza by design.

The world now anxiously awaits the outcome of the ceasefire deal struck between Hamas and the Israeli government which comes into effect on 19 January – one day before Donald Trump enters the White House.

True to form, Starmer marked news of the deal by mourning the Israelis and Britons killed by “brutal terrorists” while only acknowledging that many Palestinians had “lost their lives”.

UK judge orders transparency on Assange case

This week, it was revealed that a London judge has ordered Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to confirm whether it holds information on how, when and why key documents were deleted regarding Julian Assange’s extradition case.

The ruling follows a years-long Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) battle led by investigative journalist Stefania Maurizi, who has been trying to obtain full documentation from the CPS on the Assange case after discovering in 2017 that some documents had been destroyed.

Concerns surrounding the CPS’ handling of the Assange case have abounded since the WikiLeaks founder first entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2011.

At that time, one CPS lawyer advised Swedish prosecutors not to interview Assange in London regarding sexual assault allegations, in turn prolonging the journalist’s arbitrary detention in the embassy by a matter of years.

Maurizi’s FOIA battle with the UK authorities subsequently uncovered that correspondence between the CPS and its Swedish counterparts had been deleted. 

The CPS initially said they had “no way of knowing the content of email accounts once they have been deleted”, claiming it was standard practice to destroy emails within three months (later revised to 30 days) of a CPS lawyer leaving their post.

However, Judge Penrose Foss has now ordered the CPS to come clean on the process which led to the deletion of these documents, and to carry out adequate searches of their database to confirm that the records no longer exist.

Foss said: “Overall, based on the evidence before us, our concern is that over a number of years the CPS has not properly addressed itself at least to recording, if not undertaking, adequate searches in relation to the CPS lawyers’ emails”.

Maurizi, who is an adviser to Declassified, said: “The wall of darkness put up by… governments gives a measure of how inconvenient the truth about this case can be”

UK doubles down on F-35 exports for Israel

This week, court documents showed that the UK government is doubling down on its commitment to supplying F-35 fighter jet components to global pools which supply Israel.

Over 15 percent of each F-35 is made in the UK, including the rear fuselage, electronics, and ejection seats.

It has been described as the “most lethal” fighter jet in the world, with over 100 UK-based companies contributing to the supply chain.

Over recent months, Britain’s role in the F-35 programme has come under increased scrutiny from campaign groups and the public in light of Israel’s use of the fighter jet to commit war crimes in Gaza.

Faced with a legal challenge from Global Legal Action Network and Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq, the UK government has now insisted that it has no intention of stopping F-35 exports to the spare parts pools used by Israel.

It argues that the F-35s are crucial to western defence “in particular against Russia”, and that any impact on the supply line could lead to the grounding of some of the fighter jets “within weeks”.

To this end, the UK government argues that continuing to supply F-35 components to global pools used by Israel is in the interests of “international peace and security”.

Al-Haq general director Shawan Jabarin said: “It is outrageous that, despite acknowledging the clear risk that F-35 components could be used to commit serious violations of international law, including genocide, the government continues to export the components”

Our mission of exposing what UK governments are really doing around the world is supported by thousands of members, just like you.

Your donations fund our investigations – please chip in to support our work!