LABOUR has backed selling arms to Israel – with a top MP saying they had not seen evidence the country was breaking international humanitarian law.
Pat McFadden, the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and one of Keir Starmer’s key allies, said there was not a “boycott of selling arms to Israel”.
Speaking to Sky News’s Kay Burley, the senior Labour MP repeated Labour’s calls for the Government to publish its legal advice on whether Israel was following international law.
It will enrage pro-Palestine Labour MPs who have called for the UK to suspend arms sales to Israel and comes after three British citizens working for an aid organisation in Gaza were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Monday night.
His comments have also sparked accusations Labour is “on the wrong side of history”.
McFadden said: “We always want Israel or any ally to abide by international humanitarian law, we’ve said that all the way through this conflict and, you know, that’s what guides our policy.”
READ MORE: Senior IDF member pulls out of LBC interview after strike on aid workers
Challenged by Burley on whether Labour would suspend arms sales if they were in charge, the MP said: “We don’t have a boycott of selling arms to Israel.”
Asked again whether Labour backed supplying arms to Israel, McFadden (above) said that was “something we would do” if it was believed the country was “abiding by international humanitarian law”.
Burley asked whether he believed Israel was following international law.
McFadden said: “Well if there’s proper legal evidence that they aren’t, the Government should come out and say so. We’ve said this all the way through.”
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said: “The Labour Party does not believe Israel has breached international law. The Labour Party backs continuing the sale of arms to Israel.
“The Labour Party is on the wrong side of history.”
A number of Labour MPs have called for the Government to suspend arms sales, including backbencher Zarah Sultana (below) who has presented a private member’s bill to give effect to an embargo.
Labour have called on the Government to publish its legal advice on the situation in Gaza – with the party renewing its calls in the wake of bombshell comments by the Tory chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
READ MORE: Food charity says seven workers killed in Israeli air strike in Gaza
Alicia Kearns heaped pressure on the Government over the weekend when it emerged she had accused ministers of keeping secret legal advice which said Israel was committing war crimes.
Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell last week batted away calls for the Government to publish its legal advice.
If true, the Government opens itself up to the risk of being charged with complicity in Israeli war crimes.
So far, more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
A joint statement signed a host of United Nations special rapporteurs, working groups, and independent experts in February called on the UK to suspend arms sales to Israel, warning that “state officials involved in arms exports may be individually criminally liable for aiding and abetting any war crimes”.
READ MORE: Doctor reveals 'systematic' targeting of Gaza healthcare staff in shocking interview
On Tuesday, it emerged that three British nationals were among seven people killed by an Israeli airstrike on the World Central Kitchen project in Gaza.
Foreign Secretary David Cameron has urged Israel for a “full, transparent explanation of what happened”.
A World Central Kitchen convoy was hit as it was leaving the Deir al-Balah warehouse, where the team had unloaded more than 100 tonnes of humanitarian food aid taken to Gaza on the maritime route, the charity said.
On Tuesday morning, the Prime Minister’s spokesperson refused to say whether Government legal advice had concluded whether Israel was acting within international law.
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