Most Brits would support the UK ending arms sales to Israel, poll finds
Pressue to end arms sales to Israel has increased since an Israeli airstrike mistakenly killed seven aid workers in Gaza.
More than half (58%) of British adults would support the UK ending arms sales to Israel, a Friday YouGov poll of 3616 adults found.
Business Minister Greg Hands claimed that UK arms exports to Israel were worth £42 million (Approximately NIS 197 million) last year, which he estimated represented 0.02% of Israel's military imports, BBC News reported.
Only 10% of Brits said they strongly opposed ending the sale of arms, and 8% answered that they somewhat opposed it.
Overrepresented among those supporting the end of arms sales, 58% of people voting for labour said they “strongly support” the motion and a further 15% said they “somewhat support” it.
Liberal Democrat voters were also highly in favor of ending arms sales, with a total of 66% saying they supported the motion to any degree.
In contrast with other polls finding that younger generations were more critical of Israel, the poll found that only 37% of 18-24 year olds supported the end of sales compared to 41% in the next two ascending age groups.
UK PM Sunak pressured by lawmakers to suspend arms sales to Israel
Politicians from the Liberal Democrats Party and the Scottish National Party as well as a former UK national security adviser are pressuring United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to suspend arms sales to Israel, British media reported on Wednesday.
The pressure came after an Israeli airstrike mistakenly killed seven aid workers in Gaza, including some British nationals.
Last week, before the strike, a group of more than 130 Members of Parliament from multiple parties, and peers, reportedly wrote to Foreign Secretary David Cameron calling for an immediate suspension of export licenses for arms sales to Israel.
UNHRC votes for arms embargo
The United Nations Human Rights Council voted 28-5 for an arms embargo against Israel as it called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and demanded that the Jewish state uphold its responsibility to prevent genocide, when it met Friday in Geneva.
Thirteen of the 47 UNHRC member states abstained from the text, which did not mention Hamas or condemn it for the invasion of Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 seized as hostages.
Argentina, Bulgaria, Germany, Malawi, and the United States all opposed the resolution.
TOVAH LAZAROFF contributed to this report
Jerusalem Post Store
`; document.getElementById("linkPremium").innerHTML = cont; var divWithLink = document.getElementById("premium-link"); if (divWithLink !== null && divWithLink !== 'undefined') { divWithLink.style.border = "solid 1px #cb0f3e"; divWithLink.style.textAlign = "center"; divWithLink.style.marginBottom = "15px"; divWithLink.style.marginTop = "15px"; divWithLink.style.width = "100%"; divWithLink.style.backgroundColor = "#122952"; divWithLink.style.color = "#ffffff"; divWithLink.style.lineHeight = "1.5"; } } (function (v, i) { });