Speaking to reporters at the National Cyber Security conference on May 9, Britain’s Foreign Secretary and former Prime Minister, “Lord” David Cameron, said the UK would not follow the United States in warning Israel that it would halt sales of arms that could be used in an assault on the Gaza city of Rafah.
He told reporters, “The US is a massive state supplier of weapons to Israel. We do not have a UK government supply of weapons to Israel, we have a number of licences, and I think our defence exports to Israel are responsible for significantly less than one per cent of their total,” he claimed. He added that sales would remain subject to “a rigorous process” so they are not complicit in any violations of international humanitarian law.
He said that the UK would not support a major Israeli operation in Rafah “unless there was a very clear plan for how to protect people and save lives.”
“We have not seen that plan, so in the circumstances, we will not support a major operation in Rafah,” he added.
Otherwise, Cameron’s presentation at the conference called for NATO countries to boost defence spending above a two per cent gross domestic product target agreed upon 10 years ago.
“The upcoming NATO summit must see all allies on track to deliver their pledge made in Wales in 2014 to spend two per cent on defense. And we need to move quickly to establish 2.5 per cent as the new benchmark for all NATO allies.” https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/523363.aspx
