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Britain “should have been ahead of the US” in suspending arms sales to Israel, a former national security adviser says

Theo

A former national security adviser has criticized Rishi Sunak for failing to suspend arms sales to Israel after the US halted a bomb shipment.

Lord Ricketts said it was “regrettable” that Britain “did not take a stand” and should have been “ahead of the US” in making this decision.

The prime minister is under increasing pressure, including from within his own party, to immediately stop arms sales to Israel as opposition grows over the number of civilians killed in the war against Hamas.

The Americans halted the shipment over concerns about Israel’s plans to launch a major attack on the southern Gaza town of Rafah.

More than a million civilians are seeking refuge in Rafah after being forced to leave other parts of the Gaza Strip.

A senior Biden administration official, a major donor of military aid to Israel, said no final decision had been made on whether the delivery of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs would take place as planned.

Following the US decision, Lord Ricketts said the government should “suspend UK arms sales”.

He added that it was “a shame that the administration could not take a stand on this issue and stay ahead of the United States.”

His call was echoed by former cabinet minister and Tory MP David Jones, who stated The Independent: “We should also think about taking a break. Anyone who sees the harrowing scenes in Gaza will want the fighting to end. Hamas is actually defeated. Now is the time to end this terrible conflict through diplomacy.”

On Tuesday, shadow foreign secretary David Lammy brought Labor closer to calling for a total ban on arms sales to Israel.

With his party facing pressure from its own MPs and activists to take a tougher line against Israel, Mr Lammy used an urgent question in the House of Commons to strengthen Labour’s position.

This follows concerns within the party leadership that Muslims and others are not voting for Labor because of its position on the conflict.

A Biden official said on condition of anonymity that as Israeli leaders appeared to be nearing a decision on whether to invade Rafah, “we have begun to carefully evaluate planned transfers to Israel of certain weapons that could be used in Rafah.” “.

“As a result of this review, we stopped an arms shipment last week. It consists of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs,” the official said.

“We are particularly focused on the end use of the 2,000-pound bombs and the impact they could have in densely populated urban areas, as we have seen in other parts of the Gaza Strip.” We have not yet made a final decision on how should be handled with this delivery.”

Deliveries are believed to have been delayed by at least two weeks.

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