Revealed: British arms used in Gaza conflict
Tuesday, 21 April 2009 5:20 PM
By politics.co.uk staff
British arms were used by Israel during recent operations in Gaza, the foreign secretary has admitted.
The revelation is acutely embarrassing for David Miliband, who assured the Commons this was not the case during the fighting at the turn of the year.
During a Commons debate on January 12th this year, Mr Miliband told his Liberal Democrat counterpart: ".we have no evidence of any of the exports that he has pointed to being used in this operation.
"As for some of the allegations that are around - for example, in the Guardian on Friday, which the hon. gentleman did not repeat, but it might help the House if I make this point clear - there is no truth in the suggestion that those exports are used by the IDF [Israeli Defence Force] or are being used by the IDF in this operation.
"I assure him that the criteria that we use remain very strict, and they were recently examined in judicial review to confirm the way that they operate."
Today, Mr Davey mocked the foreign secretary for his mistake.
"At the time of the conflict, the foreign secretary claimed there was no evidence that recent British arms exports were used in Gaza and that export rules were robust," he said.
"This statement is effectively an admission that the British arms control system broke down on his watch."
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