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leftist lawmakers within the ruling Labor Party
leftist lawmakers within the ruling Labor Party
145 days ago 0 comments Categories: Books Tags:

While Britain has given Israel reassurance that the recent passport forgery scandal is a thing of the past, members of the House of Commons are insisting the British government look closely at arms sales to Israel. Britain maintains relatively warm relations with the Jewish state, but a series of events in recent months suggests some English parliamentarians and grassroots activists are less than happy with the close ties with Israel. London expelled an Israeli diplomat earlier this month after Britain accused Israeli spies of using fake British identification papers in order to carry out an assassination of a Palestinian Hamas commander in the United Arab Emirates. A report published this week by the House of Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls took a hard look at Britain's weapons sales to Israel. The cross-party group believes it is "almost certainly" the case that British weaponry was used during Israel's military campaign in Gaza more than a year ago, which left over 1, 400 Palestinians dead. While members world of warcraft gold of Parliament are slamming arms sale to Israel, analysts believe a complete embargo on Israel is not likely to be adopted by the British government. "Policy is to allow exports" The arms export world of warcraft gold controls committee's report was the latest in a series that question the nature of British arms sales to Israel. It reportedly heard that the government is looking at arms deals on a case-by-case basis with five licenses being halted in the wake of the Gaza war. However, that is far from satisfactory for organizations such as the London-based Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). The nonprofit organization submitted a deposition to the lawmakers before they compiled their latest document. "The British government has continued to license exports to Israel and is also supplying parts that are then incorporated into weapons wow cd keys, and exported by United States suppliers," Sarah Waldron, the core campaign coordinator for CAAT, told Xinhua on Wednesday. "Britain cannot wow cd keys be sure that those parts are not going to be used in attacks on civilians or attacks on the occupied territories," she added. The organization argued the fact that the British government is studying its licensing policy on "a case by case basis" means that the general policy is to sanction exports. "It has to be quite an extreme example before they refuse licenses," said Waldron. Since the end of the Gaza fighting in January 2009, British government ministers have made several comments on the issue. Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister Ivan Lewis wrote a memorandum to the Commons Committees on Arms Export Controls last July in which he said that 182 examples were looked into. Five of those were cause for concern. They related to wow power leveling, the exports of systems for the Sa'ar 4.5 class missile boats of Israeli navy. "We had credible evidence wow power leveling from a number of sources that this vessel had been used to bombard coastal areas during the Operation, " wrote Lewis. As a result, all five licenses were revoked. However, in three cases the decision was taken too late and the deals had already been completed or the term of their license had expired. Third-Party sales Lewis described his government as "not a major supplier to Israel." It is a view shared by Francis Tusa, the editor of London- based Defense Analysis newsletter. He said that a more important matter is the sale of systems or subsystems to American defense firms, which then sell the Britain- made components dog clothes, to Israel as part of a finished package. Tusa referred to this as a "grey area" for a variety of reasons, including diplomatic policy. It would not necessarily be in Britain's best interests to raise the issue with Washington. "If you would be harming dog clothes a major ally by causing serious limitations or restrictions on third-party sales, that's the type of thing that gets angers raised," said Tusa. There are also domestic political considerations to factor into the equation, Tusa pointed out, particularly with a British general election around the corner. Britain supplies a large number of components for the American- built F-16 fighter jets. Tusa believed that if that production were to be affected in any way, hundreds of British engineering jobs could be axed. If Britain was to pull its component contracts, the American F- 16 manufacturer Lockheed Martin would simply find another supplier elsewhere, said Tusa. As a result of these and other factors, it is unlikely that the calls of British lawmakers on the joint parliamentary committee and campaigners wow power leveling like Waldron will be heeded. However, the anti- Israel lobby in Britain and elsewhere in Europe is wow power leveling seeing some victories in the wake of the Gaza operation. Sweden's largest pension fund Forsta AP-Fonden decided this week to remove the Israeli defense firm Elbit from its investments portfolio, because of the use of the firm's surveillance equipment on the barrier Israel has constructed along the line that separates it from the West Bank. Campaigners against what Israel calls a "security barrier" have dubbed it "the apartheid wall." Back in Britain Wow gold, activists are continuing to win the battle to prevent senior Israeli political and military leaders from arriving Wow gold in the country. What the British government describes as a legal loophole means that Palestinians and their legal representatives in the country can attempt to have Israeli leaders arrested for alleged involvement in war crimes said to have been carried out in the Gaza campaign. While London says it is doing what it can to close the " loophole," Israel fears Britain is foot-dragging in order to use the issue as a stick to ensure Israel moves towards peace talks with the Palestinians. As the British government is largely close with Israel, leftist lawmakers within the ruling Labor Party have been working to ensure that relationship is kept in check. As a result, many in the pro-Israel corner are hoping the Conservatives win this spring's general election, because the party seems to have far less opposition to the continuation of close ties with the Jewish state.

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