Press release

Al- Haq v Secretary of State for Business and Trade: this case challenges a government decision to continue the supply of essential parts for the F-35 fighter jets through a ‘carve-out’ loophole

• The case aims to ensure the UK Government urgently suspends all arms exports to Israel – including the parts for the F-35 fighter jet that are still being sold via a deliberate loophole
• Case argues UK can and must track and stop British made F-35 parts reaching Israel and that the government must ensure domestic laws are followed
• Under both domestic and international law, the UK has a duty to stop the sale of weapons to any state committing violations of IHL and to prevent genocide.
   

On Tuesday 13^th May GLAN and Al-Haq are in the High Court challenging the government’s decision to continue the supply of F-35 parts to Israel through the ‘F-35 Carve Out’ decision - a deliberate loophole - despite its own assessment that Israel is not committed to complying with international humanitarian law.

GLAN and Al-Haq argue that the government is breaking both domestic and international law through its decision to create an unprecedented ‘carve out’ of F-35 parts, allowing them to be supplied to Israel via the Global Spares Pool and F-35 partner countries, despite the ICJ finding that there is plausible risk of genocide being committed against Palestinians in Gaza. Exports continued even after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on November 21, 2024, citing alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel's military operations in Gaza since the October 7, 2023.

Last week, it was reported that direct transfers are alleged to have continued unabated since UK announced its suspension of all arms transfers to Israel in September 2024.

In September 2024, in response to this challenge and under threat of injunction, the UK government suspended all export licenses going to Israel which were assessed as for use in Gaza[1], halting weapons and parts it assessed could be used in Gaza in light of its own assessment that Israel is not committed to complying with international law. However, excluded from the suspension were parts for the F-35 fighter jet - through the ‘F35 carve out’. This decision created a loophole where F-35 parts could indirectly reach Israel through other countries that are part of the Global Spares Pool. Despite extensive evidence of Israel’s ongoing IHL violations submitted to the government, including evidence that genocide is being committed in Gaza, the Government maintains its exception for F-35 parts.

Essential components of the F-35 fighter jet, including the laser targeting system, are made in the UK. It is the world’s most lethal warplane, capable of dropping multi-ton bombs, it has been central to Israel’s bombardment campaign in Gaza.

From the IDF’s own press releases (Hebrew, geoblocked: https://www.iaf.org.il/9781-62307-he/IAF.aspx ), we know that the IDF, in cooperation with Lockheed Martin and the U.S., have specifically adapted their F-35s since October 2023 to carry up to 18,000 lbs each in munitions ‘where stealth is not needed’, for example in Gaza where there is no air defence. They call this modification ‘Beast Mode’.

These jets have been directly linked to attacks on so-called ‘safe zones’, including a notorious attack on Al-Mawasi in Khan Younis that killed 90 Palestinians.  They were also visually identified [contact GLAN for details] by a journalist in Gaza as having been involved in the Israeli military assault on Gaza that breached the ceasefire on 18 March 2025, killing 436 Palestinians, including 183 children.

Shawan Jabarin, Al-Haq General Director: “The UK government remains utterly complicit in its ongoing arms sales to Israel, which, emboldened by impunity, has escalated its genocide against the Palestinian people through a manufactured famine, an announcement for the mass forcible transfer of Gaza's entire population, and plans to seize and annex Palestinian territory in Gaza. Israel's actions are not only an egregious breach of international law but also amount to genocide—and the UK’s complicity makes it also accountable.”

GLAN Lawyer, Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe: “The UK Government has expressly departed from its own domestic law in order to keep arming Israel. This decision is of continuing and catastrophic effect. British-made F-35s are dropping multi-ton bombs on the people of Gaza, which the UN Secretary General has described as a “killing field.” Israel’s F-35 pilots say that they are working “around the clock” and “non-stop.” F-35s are also used to assist Israel’s ground troops and are as such responsible for maintaining Israel’s ongoing two-month total blockade of Gaza, which is intentionally starving an already decimated population.”

GLAN’s Director, Gearóid Ó Cuinn: “In creating loopholes to keep Israel warplanes supplied the UK Government is not only fuelling atrocity crimes—it is running roughshod over UK law and sabotaging international law. Our message is clear: no loopholes or political calculation can justify complicity in the destruction of a people. This case is about restoring the rule of law and reminding those in power that their decisions carry legal and moral consequences.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

The High Court Hearing:

In person: Royal Courts of Justice, 10.30 am – 4.30pm approximately. Entrance is public to the open portions of the hearing. A closed session will run on Friday afternoon. Seating is unreserved, first come first served. There will likely be an overspill room which is live streamed.

Remote: The Court has issued an order that the hearing be made accessible to watch remotely. It requires individuals make the request in writing by noon on Friday - information here: https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/al-haq-v-secretary-of-state-for-business-and-trade-transmission-direction-order/

Al-Haq is an independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organisation based in Ramallah, West Bank. It was established in 1979 to protect and promote human rights and the rule of law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the organisation has special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Al Haq documents violations of the individual and collective rights of Palestinians in the OPT and in doing so it conducts research; prepares reports, studies and interventions on breaches of international human rights and humanitarian law in the OPT; and undertakes advocacy before local, regional and international bodies. For its work protecting and promoting human rights, Al Haq has been awarded numerous international awards.

Contact Zainah [email protected] more at alhaq.org 

Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) is a U.K. based legal non-profit organisation with offices in the U.K. and Ireland. GLAN works with affected communities to pursue innovative legal actions across borders to challenge powerful actors involved in human rights violations and systemic injustice.

Contact Abbi Casey [email protected]  more at glanlaw.org

Al-Haq is represented by GLAN solicitors, supervised by Alice Hardy, Partner at Bindmans LLP and the following counsel: Phillippa Kaufman KC, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC – Matrix Law Chambers , Raza Husain KC – Matrix Law Chambers, Admas Habteslasie – landmark Chambers, Zac Sammour – 11KBW, Eleanor Mitchell – Matrix Law, Mira Hammad – Garden Court Chambers, Rayan Fakhoury – Blackstone Chambers, Courtney Grafton – Twenty Essex, Jagoda Klimowicz- Brick Court , Aislinn Kelly-Leith – Blackstone Chambers, Catherine Drummond -3VB. Aliya Al -Yassin -11KBW, Rebecca Brown -2TG

Q&A
 

What is the key concern in this case?
In September 2024, the UK government suspended export licenses to Israel halting weapons and parts it assessed could be used by the Israeli army in Gaza and the West Bank in light of the government's own assessment that Israel is not committed to complying with international humanitarian law. Excluded from the suspension, were parts for the F35 fighter jet through what is known as the ‘F35 carve out’. This decision created a loophole in which the parts could reach Israel indirectly, through third parties or via the Global Spares Pool. This Government has continued to make an exception for F-35 parts despite its own assessment that there is a ‘clear risk’ that Israel will use this military equipment to commit violations of international humanitarian law (i.e. war crimes).

What outcome is being sought?
That the government will be forced to act in accordance with domestic, as well as International Humanitarian Law, and suspend all UK arms exports that can be used by Israel.

On the specific point of the challenge over F-35's: We are asking the court to find the Government’s decision to continue to supply F-35 parts to Israel unlawful and rule that it is in breach of international and domestic law.

We are asking the court to quash the F-35 carve-out decision, ending the unlawful loophole the Government has deliberately created to continue to supply F-35 parts. This would effectively mean that the government is forced to make a new decision, one which should comply with UK law.

There are limitations to what can be achieved through a court case, so even if GLAN and Al-Haq are successful in their challenge, there remains a risk the government could maintain the F-35 carve out through a new decision-making process – but in doing so may have to acknowledge that the decision is in breach of international law.

What type of case is this?

This case is a judicial review brought by Al-Haq, the Claimant, a Palestinian non-governmental organisation represented by Bindmans LLP/the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), against the Secretary of State for Business and Trade (SSBT), the Defendant.  

What is a judicial review?

In a Judicial Review the court looks at how the defendant made its decision and whether that decision-making process was lawful, and not the actual decision itself.  

When did the case begin?

The claim was first brought before the High Court of England and Wales in October 2023, to challenge the SSBT’s decision not to revoke or suspend arms export licences for military and dual-use equipment to Israel.  

When do you expect a decision?

The Court has recognised the urgency of this case, but it is not known at this time when a decision will be made. 

What international laws does GLAN and Al Haq argue the continued transfer for parts for the F-35 violate?

The UK’s continued supply of weapons to Israel is in violation of the Geneva Conventions, The Arms Trade Treaty, and the duty to prevent genocide in Article 1 of the Genocide Convention.