A new report has for the first time revealed the full scale of UK arms exports to Israel, using previously unavailable data from the Israel Tax Authority. The findings cast doubt on statements made by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, with the report concluding that “it appears that Lammy has misled Parliament and the public about arms shipments to Israel.”

The joint investigation, conducted by the Palestinian Youth Movement, Progressive International, and Workers for a Free Palestine, details a broad array of military shipments from the UK to Israel since the onset of the Gaza war in October 2023. These include a maritime delivery to Haifa, which contained over 160,000 items, as well as munitions of war, arms, and aircraft parts.

In the House of Commons, Lammy has maintained that “much of what we send [to Israel] is defensive in nature,” citing items such as “helmets or goggles” as examples, and denying that these shipments include what is “routinely described as arms.” However, the report contradicts this assertion, revealing that the UK has supplied Israel with thousands of items clearly defined as arms and ammunition, far exceeding the defensive equipment Lammy has mentioned. The evidence strongly suggests that Lammy’s previous statements in Parliament were “untrue and misleading.”

Al Jazeera.