Foreign Office official resigns in protest over Israel arms sales

[Pelican Press 0]

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Foreign Office official resigns in protest over ******* arms sales

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==Reuters

A British Foreign Office official who worked on counter terrorism has resigned in protest at arms sales to *******, saying the *** government “may be complicit in war *******”.

Mark Smith wrote to colleagues on Friday, saying he had raised concerns “at every level” in the Foreign Office, including through an official whistle blowing mechanism.

Mr Smith, who was based at the British Embassy in Dublin, added he had received nothing more than basic acknowledgments.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) declined to comment on an individual case but said the government was committed to upholding international law.

The resignation email, which has been seen by the BBC, was sent to a wide set of distribution lists including hundreds of government officials, embassy staff and special advisors to Foreign Office ministers.

Mr Smith said he had previously worked in Middle East arms export licensing assessment for the government and “each day” colleagues were witnessing “clear and unquestionable examples” of war ******* and breaches of international humanitarian law by ******* in Gaza.

“Senior members of the ******** government and military have expressed open genocidal intent, ******** soldiers take videos deliberately burning, destroying and looting civilian property,” he wrote.

“Whole streets and universities have been demolished, humanitarian aid is being blocked and civilians are regularly left with no safe quarter to flee to. Red Crescent ambulances have been attacked, schools and hospitals are regularly targeted. These are War *******.”

He said there was “no justification for the ***’s continued arms sales to *******”.

The FCDO said Foreign Secretary David Lammy had initiated a review “on day one in office” to assess whether ******* was complying with international humanitarian law.

While hundreds of officials in the ***, Europe and the US have registered unprecedented levels of dissent at their governments’ policies towards ******* over the war in Gaza, there have been far fewer known cases of so-called principled resignations, meaning Mr Smith’s case is extremely rare for the British government.

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Foreign Secretary David Lammy has initiated a review to assess whether ******* was complying with international law

According to the email, his role was “Second Secretary Counter Terrorism” – understood to be a relatively junior rank, but one in which he described himself as “a subject matter expert in the domain of arms sales policy” after “a long career in the diplomatic service”.

His email continued: “Ministers claim that the *** has one of the most ‘robust and transparent’ arms export licensing regimes in the world, however this is the opposite of the truth.”

“As a fully cleared officer raising serious concerns of illegality in this Department, to be disregarded in this way is deeply troubling. It is my duty as a public ******** to raise this.”

Since 2008, the *** has granted licenses for weapons exports to ******* worth £574m ($727m) in total, according to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).

The *** government has recently played down the scale of the supply, calling it “relatively small” at £42m ($53m) in 2022.

******* has repeatedly denied breaching international humanitarian law in Gaza.

Responding to previous cases of dissent by Western officials over policy and arms supply, *******’s government has said it is acting to defeat ****** as “a genocidal ********** organisation which commits war ******* as well as ******* against humanity”.

In May, the chief prosecutor of the International ********* Court (ICC) applied for arrest warrants for *******’s prime minister and defence minister, as well as for leaders of ******, for war *******, but these have yet to be issued.

An FCDO spokesperson said: “This government is committed to upholding international law. We have made clear that we will not export items if they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violations of International Humanitarian Law.”

The spokesperson added: “There is an ongoing review process to assess whether ******* is complying with International Humanitarian Law, which the Foreign Secretary initiated on day one in office. We will provide an update as soon as that review process has been completed.”

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