Thahir Asmal, Radio Islam News – 30-05-2018

New figures released by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) in Europe have revealed that Britain approved record weapons export licenses to Israel last year.

In 2017 Britain issued $294m worth of arms licenses to defence contractors exporting to Israel, up 256 percent when compared with the $114m licensed in 2016.

CAAT has indicated that in total, the European state has sold arms and military hardware worth more than $466m to Israel over the past five years.

Among the weapons that the UK sold to Israel were assault rifles, small arms ammunition, sniper rifles and components for targeting equipment.

CAAT spokesperson Andrew Smith told Al Jazeera that UK weaponry previously sold to Israel was used in at least two Israeli attacks on Gaza.

“UK government investigations have confirmed that UK arms were used against the people of Gaza in 2009 and 2014. A full investigation is required to determine whether they were used in recent atrocities.”