Anger over weapons sales as UK government figures show more than 100 licenses issued for exports to Israel since Oct. 7 Hamas attack

A UNRWA personnel checks a burnt area at a school housing displaced Palestinians that was hit during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the militant group Hamas, in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on May 17, 2024. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 11 June 2024
Follow

Anger over weapons sales as UK government figures show more than 100 licenses issued for exports to Israel since Oct. 7 Hamas attack

  • Data release follows calls by campaigners for greater transparency on arms exports
  • Critics accuse UK of ignoring its international legal obligations over military shipments

LONDON: The UK has approved more than 100 export licenses for the sale of weapons, military equipment, and other items to Israel since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants that killed around 1,200 people, government figures show.

Just over a third of the licenses, 37 of the 108 issued, were described as military, while 63 were declared as non-military, but included telecommunication and software items for use by the Israel Defense Forces.

A further eight open licenses were granted, statistics released by the Department for Business and Trade show.

The data has been released after calls by politicians and campaigners for the British government to be transparent about arms exports to Israel amid what the department called “exceptional parliamentary interest.”

Almost 37,000 Palestinians have been killed and at least 83,530 injured in the Israeli military offensive in Gaza launched in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack.

Emily Apple, of the Campaign against Arms Trade, slammed the figures for only showing the number of licenses, not the value or the detailed categories of what was exported — data that is normally contained in quarterly arms export licenses statistics, the Guardian reported.

“This data release was supposed to address the political and public interest in arms sales to Israel; the figures released do not do this as they do not give any details of the equipment exported or its value,” she said.

“If and when we have a new Labour government (after a July 4 general election), it is vital that they not only impose an arms embargo but also address the lack of transparency in our export licensing system,” she added.

Approved UK arms exports licenses to Israel were valued at £42 million ($53.4 million) in 2022, with the 2023 figure due to be released later this week.

Campaigners have pressed the British government to end its arms sales to Israel, claiming the exports break international humanitarian law.

Yasmine Ahmed, director at UK Human Rights Watch, said: “The right way to approach Israel’s commitment to comply with international humanitarian law is not by reference to Israel’s subjective interpretation of its compliance with IHL, but by an objective interpretation of what IHL actually requires.”

Her concerns were echoed by Sacha Deshmukh, CEO of Amnesty International UK, who said: “We’re supporting this important case because of the UK’s refusal to abide by its international legal obligations and suspend arms transfers to Israel.”

Earlier this month it was announced that British government ministers found no reason to end weapons exports to Israel after reviewing the latest three-month period of the Gaza war up to April.

“As required by the UK’s robust arms export control regime, the foreign secretary has now reviewed the most recent advice about the situation in Gaza and Israel’s conduct of their military campaign,” a statement from the UK Foreign Office said.

“The business secretary has therefore decided our position on export licenses remains unchanged. This is consistent with the advice ministers have received. As ever, we will keep the position under review.

“The UK operates a robust and thorough assessment of arms export license applications against the Strategic Export Licensing Criteria. These criteria include that we will not grant an export license if there is a clear risk that the items might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”


US federal workers receive second email on justifying jobs: media

Updated 3 sec ago
Follow

US federal workers receive second email on justifying jobs: media

WASHINGTON: A second email asking US federal workers to justify their jobs was sent on Friday, as part of President Donald Trump’s initiative to slash spending, media outlets reported.
It came a week after Elon Musk, the billionaire appointed by Trump to downsize the government, engineered a first mass email to the federal government’s two million employees, ordering them to justify their work or risk being fired.
The message, sent from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the government’s HR department, had created confusion among an already anxious workforce, as multiple federal agencies told staff to ignore it.
Friday’s email once again asked staff to respond with around five bullet points describing what they accomplished in the past week and added that it would become a weekly task.
The second round of emails started going out late Friday, The New York Times, NPR and CBS News reported, stating that they had seen copies of the second message.
The email had the subject line, “What did you do last week? Part II” and went out to workers at various agencies, including the FBI, the Treasury Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
Musk, whom Trump put in charge of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory body, tasking him with slashing public spending and tackling alleged waste and corruption, has not commented on X about the new emails.
Unlike with the first email, the second message also asked workers to send their list of accomplishments by the end of Monday on a weekly basis going forward.
It also said workers whose activities are classified or sensitive could simply respond with “All of my activities are sensitive.”
CBS reported that this time the OPM had tasked individual agencies to send the email themselves, adding that each department could decide whether to do so.
Musk had previously said the original email “was basically a check to see if the employee had a pulse and was capable of replying to an email.”
Trump in a message on his social media platform Truth Social had praised Musk for “doing a great job,” but said “I would like to see him get more aggressive.”


UN refugee chief warns of hunger in Rohingya camps amid dramatic aid cuts

Updated 42 min ago
Follow

UN refugee chief warns of hunger in Rohingya camps amid dramatic aid cuts

  • Filippo Grandi is on a visit to Bangladesh, where he met with Rohingya refugees
  • Looming US aid cuts would give rise to human trafficking in refugee camps, expert says

DHAKA: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has warned of impending hunger and disease among the Rohingya community sheltering in southeastern Bangladesh, amid a shift in US foreign aid policy.

The US is the largest donor of humanitarian aid for the Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar. Last year, it contributed $301 million, or 55 percent of all foreign aid, for more than 1.3 million Rohingya living in camps in Cox’s Bazar district on the southeast coast of Bangladesh.

The aid is feared to stop soon, as the Donald Trump administration announced in late January that it was eliminating most of US assistance globally.

The UNHCR chief, who arrived in Bangladesh earlier this week, visited the Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar on Friday.

“If donor support decreases dramatically — which may happen — the huge work done by the Bangladesh government, aid agencies and refugees will be impacted, putting thousands at risk of hunger, disease and insecurity,” he said in an X post after the visit.

The Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority, lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s. Since then, many of them have fled to Bangladesh, with about 700,000 arriving in 2017 after a military crackdown that the UN has been referring to as a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.

Today, more than 1.3 million Rohingya are cramped inside 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar — the world’s largest refugee settlement.

Mizanur Rahman, the Bangladeshi government’s top refugee relief and repatriation official, told Arab News on Thursday that several hospitals in the camps had already scaled back their services and would be forced to close if there was no funding available by the end of March.

The health care crisis would be further exacerbated by limited access to food in the settlements, where the majority of refugees are already malnourished.

“Pregnant and lactating mothers, as well as newborn children, will be affected in the long term. The Rohingya refugees here in Bangladesh could face a massive rise in malnutrition, a high death-birth rate, and an increased rate of disability,” said Asif Munier, a rights and migration expert.

“Even if the funding cuts continue for a year, the impact will be long-lasting. The humanitarian losses could be irreparable, and it might take years to mitigate the effects.”

Among other basic services that will be affected is security.

“Human trafficking from the camps is expected to increase due to the desperation for income and the need for cash flow. This type of trafficking typically occurs during the dry season. Over the next two, three months, human trafficking trends may rise,” Munier told Arab News.

“I hope the US government will review and negotiate the areas of humanitarian aid. In the meantime, we should consider implementing a contingency plan ... If necessary, some services that are not of high priority could be reduced. Softer needs, such as education, can be postponed for a few months. This will help ensure the continuation of basic services.”


84 Indonesian workers from Myanmar scam centers return home

Updated 01 March 2025
Follow

84 Indonesian workers from Myanmar scam centers return home

  • Eighty-four Indonesians returned home overnight on two flights from Thailand, Indonesian officials said Saturday, the latest group of alleged scam workers to be repatriated from the region

JAKARTA: Eighty-four Indonesians returned home overnight on two flights from Thailand, Indonesian officials said Saturday, the latest group of alleged scam workers to be repatriated from the region.
Cyberscam operations, which have thrived in Myanmar’s lawless border areas for several years, lure foreign workers with promises of high-paying jobs but hold them hostage and force them into committing online fraud.
Under pressure from key ally Beijing, Myanmar has cracked down on some of the compounds, freeing around 7,000 workers from more than two dozen countries.
The 69 Indonesian men and 15 women landed in capital Jakarta after negotiations between Indonesian officials and their Thai and Myanmar counterparts, Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affair’s citizen protection director Judha Nugraha told AFP Saturday.
“They will be brought to the Social Affairs Ministry’s safehouse and trauma center. They will undergo a rehabilitation process,” he said.
Ministry spokesperson Rolliansyah Soemirat also confirmed their return.
The group, which included three pregnant women, were in “good condition and healthy” after their evacuation from Myanmar, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
They arrived in Jakarta on two AirAsia flights — one late Friday and one early Saturday.
The ministry said it had repatriated an early group of 46 Indonesians in February, bringing the total repatriated since last month to 140.
Thousands of Indonesians have been enticed abroad in recent years to other Southeast Asian countries for better-paying jobs, only to end up in the hands of transnational scam operators.
Between 2020 and September last year, Jakarta repatriated more than 4,700 Indonesians entangled in online scam operations from countries including Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, according to foreign ministry data.


Four dead in India avalanche, five still missing: army

Updated 01 March 2025
Follow

Four dead in India avalanche, five still missing: army

DEHRADUN, India: At least four people were confirmed dead and five were still missing after an avalanche hit a remote border area in India, the army said Saturday.
A total of 55 workers were buried under snow and debris after the avalanche struck a construction camp near a village on the border with Tibet on Friday.


Millions of Muslims in Indonesia mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan

Updated 01 March 2025
Follow

Millions of Muslims in Indonesia mark the start of the holy month of Ramadan

JAKARTA: Muslims in Indonesia are shopping for sweets and new clothes and taking part in traditional festivities as millions observe the holy month of Ramadan, which started on Saturday.
Celebrations in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country range from colorful nighttime parades and cleaning family graves to preparing food for predawn breakfasts and elaborate post-sundown meals known as “iftars.”
Each region in the vast archipelago nation of 17,000 islands has its own way to mark the start of Ramadan, when Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual intercourse from sunrise until sunset for the whole month.
Even a tiny sip of water or a puff of smoke is enough to invalidate the fast. At night, family and friends gather and feast in a festive atmosphere.
Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar announced on Friday that Ramadan will begin on Saturday, after the sighting of the crescent moon was confirmed by Islamic astronomy observers in Indonesia’s westernmost province of Aceh.
Shortly after the announcement, mosques flooded with devotees offering evening prayers known as “tarawih” on the first eve of Ramadan. In Jakarta’s Istiqlal Grand Mosque, the largest in Southeast Asia, tens of thousands of worshippers crammed together shoulder-to-shoulder.
The daylong fasting is aimed at bringing the faithful closer to God and reminding them of the suffering of the poor. Muslims are expected to strictly observe daily prayers and engage in heightened religious contemplation. They are also urged to refrain from gossip, fighting or cursing during the holy month.
Flares, drums and tradition
Samsul Anwar, his wife and their 8-year-old nephew were among hundreds of people taking part in a torchlight parade along the streets of their neighborhood in Tangerang, a city just outside the capital of Jakarta, on Wednesday after evening prayers.
They carried torches, lit flares and played Islamic songs accompanied by the beat of rebana, the Arabic handheld percussion instrument, as they walked along the cramped streets of the densely populated neighborhood.
“Every year we welcome Ramadan with a tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation,” said Anwar.
Chinese Indonesian communities also participated in the parade by performing the vibrant “barongsai” or “lion dance,” a prominent part of Chinese New Year celebration, to the sound of drums and trumpets.
The barongsai performance “was also held to show unity between the religious communities of Chinese and Muslim, aiming to increase religious tolerance,” Anwar said.
Cost of living anxieties
It’s also an exciting time for business. Hotels, restaurants and cafes all prepare special Ramadan promotions, and shoppers flock to shopping centers for new clothes and home decorations for the holiday of Eid Al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. Children often receive new clothes and gifts.
However, some Muslims worry how they will cope financially during Ramadan this year amid soaring prices.
“Everything to do with cooking is rising (in cost) day by day,” said Asih Mulyawati, a mother of two who lives in Jakarta’s outskirt of Tangerang. “I worry this situation will impact Ramadan celebrations.”
Despite soaring food prices in the past month, popular markets such as Tanah Abang in Jakarta were teeming with shoppers buying clothes, shoes, cookies and sweets before the holiday.
Indonesia’s Trade Ministry has said prices of imported staple foods including wheat, sugar, beef and soybeans have increased sharply this year as a result of rising global commodity prices and supply chain disruptions.
But many people say the rise in prices not only impacts imported foods but also local commodities like rice, eggs, chili, palm oil and onions. Many also blame the government for rising gas and electricity prices.
“The current gloomy economic situation and extreme weather recently also contribute to the soaring prices and the weakening of people’s purchasing power,” said Heru Tatok, a trader in Jakarta’s Pasar Senen market.