Mark Smith, the head of the Africa Programmes and Expertise Department and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO), formally resigned on 16 August, citing London’s continued arms sales to Israel.
In a letter titled “FCDO complicity in War Crimes,” Smith – an expert on the legality of UK arms sales – laments ending his long diplomatic career “in the knowledge that this Department may be complicit in War Crimes.”
“As [a] former penholder on the arms exports licensing assessment in [the Middle East and North Africa Department] MENAD, I am a subject matter expert in the domain of armed sales policy. Each day we witness clear and unquestionable examples of War Crimes and breaches of International Humanitarian Law in Gaza perpetrated by the State of Israel,” Smith writes.
“Senior members of the Israeli government and military have expressed open genocidal intent, Israeli soldiers take videos, deliberately burning destroying, and looting civilian property and openly admit to the rape and torture of prisoners,” the letter continues.
He also highlights that Israel’s wholesale destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, their continued restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid, plus attacks on ambulances, schools, and hospitals all constitute war crimes.
“There is no justification for the UK’s continued arms sales to Israel yet somehow it continues. I have raised this at every level in the organization including through an official whistle-blowing investigation and received nothing more than ‘thank you we have noted your concerns.’”
Smith also criticizes UK authorities for misrepresenting London’s arms export licensing regimes as “robust and transparent,” saying, “This is the opposite of the truth.”
Although falling well behind Israel’s top suppliers of deadly armament – the US and Germany – the UK granted more than 100 weapon export licenses to Tel Aviv between 7 October and the end of May.
Between 2008 and the end of 2023, London granted export licenses for arms deals to Israel worth 576 million pounds ($740m).
Earlier this month, British news outlets reported that the new Labour government “[appears] to have suspended the processing of arms export licenses for sales to Israel pending the completion of a wider government review into the issue.”
The suspension is reportedly part of a review “of the risk of weapons sales to Israel in light of allegations of breaches of humanitarian law in the Gaza conflict.”
