Labour Students votes to lobby for suspension of UK arms exports to Israel

Labour Students has voted to call for not only an “immediate ceasefire” in Israel and Palestine but also to halt Britain arms sales to Israel, LabourList can reveal.

A motion passed on Monday at the student body’s committee.

It comes after the Scottish National Party also sought to heap pressure on Labour and the Tories over weapons last week, calling for Parliament to halt all transfers of military equipment and technology to Israel and suspend new licence issuing.

The SNP had hoped to file a fresh parliamentary motion including that call, but the Speaker has just rejected it.

UK defence exports to Israel amounted to £42m in 2022, according to the government. MPs including Zarah Sultana have also backed restrictions on arms exports to Israel since the conflict began.

The motion also called for the Labour frontbench to commit to scrapping the Tories’ Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) bill if it becomes law, which seeks to stop councils boycotting Israel. Labour opposed the bill.

The motion condemns too both the “abhorrent” Hamas attack on October 7th and what it calls “collective punishment” of Palestinians. It says Israel has a a right to defend itself, but warns against a ground invasion of Rafah, and urges Israel to comply with intermational law.

Labour Students chair Ben McGowan and secretary Jonathan Heywood said in a joint statement: “We are proud that Labour Students passed this motion.

“Last week we saw the SNP and the Tories playing the dirtiest of politics whilst our party ensured parliament was able to support a ceasefire. It is therefore vital the party speaks as one voice and we want to fully endorse Keir Starmer and the PLP in calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.”

Fabiha Askari, vice chair of Labour Students, highlighted the International Court of Justice’s warning of a “real and imminent risk” of Israel breaching the genocide convention.

“It is clear that an immediate ceasefire and suspension of UK arm exports to Israel is absolutely crucial to prevent further suffering.

“We hope that our unanimous call for the suspension of UK arms exports and an immediate ceasefire are taken seriously by the Labour frontbench: our generation wants peace, not more bloodshed.”

Read the full motion signed by Labour Students

This committee notes:

• The catastrophic situation that has been ongoing in the Middle East since October 7 and the abhorrent terrorist attack conducted by Hamas.
• Over 29,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, a third of these children, and the death toll is increasing daily.
• That over a million Palestinians have taken refuge in Rafah, which Israeli forces are heavily bombarding and threatening with a ground invasion.
• That hostages continue to be held and should be released immediately.
• That while Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, Israeli action in recent months in Gaza has amounted to, as in the opinion of the UN Secretary-General, collective punishment of the Palestinian people. Collective punishment is against international law.
• That UK defence exports to Israel amounted to £42m in 2022.
• That the International Court of Justice ruled in January that there was a “real and imminent risk” of Israel’s assault on Palestine constituting a breach of the genocide convention.

This committee believes:

• That we must call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire to prevent further bloodshed and create space for the release of all remaining hostages.
• That the proposed ground invasion of Rafah must not go ahead.
• That Israel must comply in full with the six provisional measures set out by the ICJ.

This committee will:

• Call, on behalf of National Labour Students, for an immediate ceasefire and for the suspension of all UK arms exports to Israel.
• Call on the Labour Frontbench to commit to scrapping the Tories’ Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Act when in Government (assuming it will receive royal assent in the coming months)

Labour was not immediately available for comment.