BYM discusses arms exports to Israel at Westminster

'Parliamentarians were told that ‘the UK has a moral responsibility to immediately stop arms exports to Israel’.'

Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) joined a parliamentary discussion on suspending arms exports to Israel last week.

Billy Vaughan, public affairs officer for BYM, attended the event on 30 April, where parliamentarians were told that ‘the UK has a moral responsibility to immediately stop arms exports to Israel’. The roundtable discussion was hosted by Brendan O’Hara, the Scottish National Party (SNP) MP for Argyll and Bute, and SNP spokesperson for Foreign Affairs.

Human Rights Watch and the Campaign Against Arms Trade also took part in the discussion, where MPs and peers were encouraged to use ‘consistent cross-party messaging’.

‘The Israeli military has killed more than 34,000 people in Gaza since Hamas militants attacked Israel on 7 October last year, killing 1,200 and taking 250 hostage,’ BYM highlighted on the Quakers in Britain website. ‘Since 2015, the UK has licensed over £442 million worth of arms to Israeli forces, according to Campaign Against Arms Trade.’

In February, BYM joined seven other organisations working in the occupied Palestinian territories in urging the British government to suspend arms transfers to Israel. Quakers around the world recently signed a joint statement calling for action to bring about ‘a just and lasting peace’ in Palestine and Israel.

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