Oscar Rickett – Middle East Eye Jan 28, 2025

Israeli F-35s, kept flying with the help of UK-supplied spare parts

A new report from the British Palestinian Committee (BPC) has laid out the full extent of British military involvement in Israel’s war on Gaza and called on the UK government to bring its collaboration with the Israeli military to an end.

Released on Tuesday, the report notes that while the British government “has not been directly perpetrating violence in Gaza, it has played an influential role, not only through the validation of arms licences, but also through wider and deeper military collaboration with Israel”.

This collaboration includes the procurement of weapons from the Israeli military industry and the use of British military bases – particularly the Royal Air Force (RAF) base Akrotiri on the island of Cyprus –  by the UK, US and Germany to supply Israel with “weapons, personnel, and intelligence” since the war on Gaza began following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023.

The UK has also participated in attacks on the Houthis in Yemen and has assisted in the protection of Israel’s military infrastructure from Iranian attacks, following escalation from the Israelis.

The report argues that the UK “is not simply failing in its third-party responsibilities to uphold international law, but is actively complicit in genocidal acts perpetrated against the Palestinian people.”

An advocacy organisation based in London, BPC focuses its attention on the F-35 fighter jet, which has been used alongside drones, helicopters and other aircraft to bombard Gaza throughout Israel’s war there.

F-35 bombed displaced people

On 13 July 2024, an Israeli F-35 dropped three 2,000-pound bombs on a camp for displaced people in Gaza’s Al Mawasi, killing at least 90.

“This strike was made possible through British manufacturing and the supply of British-made spare parts that sustain Israel’s F-35 fleet,” the report notes.

In September, the UK government stopped sending British-made F-35 components directly to Israel as part of a wider suspension of weapons that it found that Israel could use to violate international humanitarian law in Gaza.

But the UK continued to export the fighter jet parts to a global pool that could end up in Israeli F-35s.

The F-35 programme currently has no track-and-trace capability to allow for parts destined for specific countries to be halted without disrupting the global fleet.

According to recent court documents, the UK would have to suspend all exports to the programme to divert components from going to Israel, a move that British officials have said would threaten global peace and security.

At the same time, the government has acknowledged that there is a clear risk that Israel may commit war crimes using F-35s, with campaigners arguing that the government is failing to follow its own guidelines and obligations to international treaties by continuing to send the parts.

The F-35 programme is led by the US and supported by the UK as the most senior international partner, responsible for producing “significantly” more than 15 percent of every jet, according to the CEO of Lockheed Martin UK, the arms manufacturer that produces the plane.

In the UK, 79 different companies produce parts for the F-35 programme, including BAE Systems, which builds the rear fuselage of every jet, and Martin Baker, which produces the ejector seat.

The F-35s used by the Israeli air force in its war on Gaza were manufactured before October 2023, but each plane needs a constant supply of spare parts.

The BPC report notes that RAF Marham has been used to send spare F-35 parts directly to Israel at seven points since the war on Gaza began.

Marham is the maintenance station for the RAF’s F-35 fleet, operating under a public-private partnership with BAE Systems, which employs at least 130 maintenance workers at the base.

Declassified reported that leaked cargo documents showed that Martin Baker, the British company that produces ejector seats for the F-35, received a shipment from Nevatim air base in Israel in September 2024.

Cyprus bases

Crucial to the UK-Israel military partnership are Akrotiri and Dhekelia, two bases situated on what is still British territory on the island of Cyprus, a former British colony.

While the British government explored closing the bases in 1974, the US insisted that access to them was too important.

“Although Akrotiri is used by US personnel and Dhekelia is a joint US-UK intelligence station, the British government has to authorise operations by allies in any of its Cyprus base areas,” the BPC report says.

When he visited Akrotiri in December, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was filmed telling troops: “The whole world and everyone back at home is relying on you.”

He added: “Quite a bit of what goes on here can’t necessarily be talked about all of the time. We can’t necessarily tell the world what you’re doing.”

During Israel’s war on Gaza, military cargo has been airlifted from Akrotiri to Israel. This cargo has often travelled to Cyprus from US military bases in other parts of Europe.

RAF shadow aircraft have also been conducting nightly surveillance flights over Gaza, which the British government has acknowledged, claiming the flights are in support of “hostage rescue”.

The report concludes by saying that the British government is, “in effect, engaged in military actions without being subject to parliamentary scrutiny, and that these actions implicate its institutions and officials in the gravest breaches of international law.”

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