Banning arms sales to Israel would be 'shameful', Boris Johnson says

Boris Johnson says it would be "shameful" and "insane" to ban arms sales to Israel. 

There have been mounting calls for the UK to review arms exports to Israel in the wake of an Israeli air strike that killed seven aid workers, including three Britons.

The former prime minister said it was "shattering" to see the deaths, but argued Israel was sending warnings of their attacks and "trying to use precision munitions".

Israel called the attack a "grave mistake stemming from a serious failure" and dismissed two officials after its investigation.

Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron said the UK will carefully review findings of the initial IDF report into the incident released on Friday.

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Ending military support for Israel would be "willing the military defeat of Israel and the victory of Hamas", Mr Johnson wrote in his weekly Daily Mail column.

"Remember that in order to win this conflict, Hamas only has to survive. All they need at the end is to hang on, rebuild, and go again.

"That's victory for Hamas; and that is what these legal experts seem to be asking for."

More than 600 lawyers and academics signed an open letter warning that "the sale of weapons and weapons systems to Israel... falls significantly short of your government's obligations under international law".

The Labour Party has demanded the government publish legal advice over whether Israel has breached international law in Gaza.

The Liberal Democrats and the SNP have gone further in calling for arms exports to Israel to be blocked, and some Labour and Conservative MPs have also backed these calls.

The government does not directly supply Israel with weapons but does grant export licences for British companies to sell arms to the country.

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Mr Johnson further asserted that Lord Cameron had been silent on the issue, saying the Foreign Secretary had "gone into a kind of purdah" on arms sales.

He said: "If the West continues to crumble - and especially if Britain and the US crumble - then the Israelis will be prevented from getting into Rafah. They will be prevented from achieving their objective: of finishing Hamas as a military force in Gaza.

"Is that really what you want, all you legal experts who say that Israel's actions now necessitate an arms embargo? Do you want to hand victory to a bunch of murderers and rapists?"

Banning arms sales would be "shameful" and "insane", he said, adding: "The sooner the government formally denounces the idea, the better."

Reacting to Mr Johnson's comments, a UK government spokesperson said: "As part of the government's robust arms export control regime we periodically review advice on Israel's commitment to International Humanitarian Law, and Ministers act in accordance with that advice.

"The content of this advice and related assessments is confidential.

"Decisions on export licences are based on the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. We would make public any decision to suspend or revoke existing licences."