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British Prime Minister Defends Arms To Israel By Neil Roberts
And he said that if Britain refused to supply weapons parts because they may be used by Israel "no one would do business with us". "There are roughly 100,000 jobs in this country that depend on defence or associated industries, and I simply don't agree with shutting that industry down," he said. "Once you start saying that you are not going to supply parts to the United States on the basis that these weapons might be sold at some point to Israel or indeed to any other country, I'm afraid what would actually happen is not that the parts wouldn't be supplied, but that you would find every other defence industry in the world rushing in to take the place that we had vacated." His comments, at a televised press briefing, came amid worldwide
outrage at an Israeli bomb attack on Gaza City that killed nine
Palestinian children.
British
Prime Minister Accused Of Backing The Death Merchants TONY Blair faced uproar last night after saying that if he halted arms sales to Israel other countries would rush to fill the gap. Britain sold military equipment worth £22.5million to the Israelis last year, almost doubling the deals since the Palestinian uprising began two years ago. A total of 299 separate contracts were agreed by the Government in 2001 alone. The Daily Mirror asked the Prime Minister at a Downing Street news conference to justify increasing arms sales at a time of high tension in the Middle East. He said 100,000 jobs were linked to the defence industry, and declared: "I justify it very simply. I don't agree with the Daily Mirror on this issue. "If we want to stop the defence industry operating in this country, we can do so. "The result, incidentally, would be that someone else supplies the arms that we supply." Angry campaigners last night accused ministers of putting profit before principles. Richard Bingley, of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, said: "We have heard this argument, that if we don't sell it, someone else will, before - from the mouths of slave traders and drug dealers. "The Prime Minister's emphatic defence of the indefensible raises questions about his sense of morality." Earlier this month, the Mirror condemned the Government decision to sell vital F16 jet parts to Israel via America. At the Downing Street conference, Mr Blair insisted: "We have actually tightened the criteria on export control of the sale of arms, tightened them considerably here and in Europe as well. "But there are roughly 100,000 jobs in this country that depend on defence or associated industries, and I simply don't agree with shutting that industry down." Foreign Secretary Jack Straw admitted this week that British-made parts may have been used on the F16 jets which bombed Gaza, killing 15 people including a Hamas leader and nine children. They reached Israel because British Aerospace supplies parts for the F16 to US defence giant Lockheed. The PM yesterday brushed aside concerns over whether it was right to help arm Israel in its attempts to suppress the uprising. He said: "Once you start saying that you are not going to supply parts to the United States on the basis that these weapons might be sold at some point to Israel or indeed to any other country, I'm afraid the practical reality is not that the parts wouldn't be supplied, but that you would find every other defence industry in the world rushing in to take the place that we had vacated." Critics replied that some of the vital equipment involved is only made in Britain. They said Mr Blair's attack on the Mirror's campaign showed he was out of touch with public opinion. And they called for an immediate ban on military sales to Israel. Oxfam campaigns director Adrian Lovett demanded: "How can we explain Tony Blair's answers to this moral dilemma to the innocent people killed and maimed by British components used in Israeli air strikes? "The reasonable majority of British people will find this a very depressing admission which negates our claim to be a moral force in the world." Britain armed 130 countries with contracts worth £5billion last year, making us the world's second biggest arms trader after the US. Sales included £343million worth of fighter aircraft, weapons, explosives, ammunition and components to the 10 countries most at risk of ethnic conflict - Israel, India, Russia, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Indonesia, the Philippines, Algeria, Pakistan and Turkey. Richard Bingley said: "The near-doubling of sales to Israel at such a time of tragedy is scandalous and breaks EU rules and Labour's own ethical guidelines."But sadly it comes as no surprise. "It is natural for arms dealers to target areas where there is conflict and the Government is facilitating this trade in death. The only answer is an immediate embargo." Mr Lovett said: "Labour started off promisingly with its 1997 electoral pledge to clean up the industry. Mr Blair's argument that he must protect defence jobs does not stand up. "A recent MoD report found that cutting back some sections of the defence industry would not necessarily have an impact on jobs if the right steps were taken to change the industry." At his news conference, the Premier virtually ruled out giving MPs a vote on any military action against Iraq. He said: "Action is not imminent. "There are many issues to be considered before we are at the
point of decision. But I am not going to pin myself at this stage
to any specific form of consultation.""
Bloody
hypocrite Readers Letter
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