I have joined nearly 50 MPs to express alarm with Israel’s use of cluster munitions and call on the Government to end all arms sales to Israel.
These munitions release many smaller bombs over an area the size of several football pitches, indiscriminately causing mass causalities and suffering. More than 100 countries, including Britain, have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, prohibiting the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of these weapons.
We are also alarmed by the Government allowing Elbit systems, Israel’s largest arms company, to operate factories in Britain and continues to award the company lucrative contracts.
I am backing Early Day Motion 2376, put forward by my Labour colleague Imran Hussain. The motion says:
“That this House expresses its alarm at evidence showing Israel used cluster munitions in its 2023 onwards invasion and bombings of Lebanon, which has killed more than 4,000 people in total; highlights that under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, an international treaty signed by Britain and more than 100 other states, the use, production, transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions is prohibited; notes evidence showing Israel’s largest arms company Elbit Systems was one of the manufacturers of the cluster munitions used in Israel’s recent assault on Lebanon; further notes Elbit Systems is deeply implicated in Israel’s grave violations of international law, including its genocide in Gaza; further expresses alarm that the Government allows Elbit Systems to operate factories in Britain and has awarded the company lucrative military contracts; also expresses alarm that British bank Barclays continues to invest in Elbit Systems, despite having a policy to end financial ties with companies that trade in or manufacture cluster munitions; urges therefore Barclays bank to end all financial ties with Elbit Systems; calls for the Government to implement measures to prevent companies in Britain from aiding international law violations; and further calls on the Government, in light of this new evidence, in addition to Elbit Systems’ role in Israel’s grave violations of international law against Palestinians, to end all arms sales to Israel, cancel all contracts with Elbit Systems, commit to not entering into any future contracts with Elbit Systems, and to close down all of Elbit Systems’ factories in Britain.”