I wrote to the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Peter Kyle, alongside 58 other MPs and Lords to express my concern at the Government’s apparent move towards “unblocking” the arms licenses to Israel it suspended in September 2024 and the transfer of new F-35s from a British air base.
In September 2024 the Government admitted that Israel was not committed to complying with international humanitarian law (IHL), and that for certain UK arms exports to Israel, including F-35 jets, there is a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of IHL in Gaza.
Following this decision the Government suspended 29 of 350 arms licenses to Israel. However, this partial ban also created a loophole, known as the ‘F-35 carve-out’, which allowed components for F-35 aircrafts supplied through the ‘global supply pool’ to be exempt from the
partial suspension and continued to be exported, despite the jets having crossed the threshold of risk for IHL violations.
On 12th January 2026 in an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, Kyle committed to revisiting UK-Israel trade conversations and the decision to pause arms export licenses, adding that the two matters were “intrinsically linked”.
To claim that arms licences and UK-Israel trade talks are “intrinsically linked”, is completely at odds with the Government’s obligation to issue or suspend arms export licences in line with the UK’s domestic Strategic Export Licences Criteria and its international legal obligations, including the Genocide Convention. Peter Kyle’s comments indicate that the Department of Business and Trade considers the issuing of export licences as contingent on trade deals and may be unlawfully setting aside the UK’s arms export controls.
As well as a constant supply of spare parts for the F-35 jets that Israel has been using throughout the genocide, it now appears that the UK has played a pivotal role in facilitating the transfer of new F-35 fighter jets to Israel. On 21st January 2026 it was reported that three new F-35s were transferred from the British air base, RAF Mildenhall, to Israel.
In our letter, we call on the on the Secretary of State to answer the following questions:
- Have you been provided with legal advice regarding your position that UK-Israel trade relations and arms export licences to Israel are ‘intrinsically linked’?
- Is the Government continuing to monitor and record potential incidents of violations of IHL by Israel, in Gaza, Palestine and elsewhere?
- Has the Government revised its decision that Israel is not committed to complying with IHL? If so, on what basis?
- How is the transfer of F-35 jets through RAF Mildenhall consistent with the suspension of direct exports of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel? Have exemptions, including those in the Export Control Order 2008, ever before been applied to arms exports which have crossed the threshold for suspension under Criterion 2. c?
