British official resigns over arms sales to Israel

UK Foreign Office official Mark Smith has resigned in protest over arms sales to Israel. Smith, who works on counter-terrorism, said the UK government 'could be complicit in war crimes'.

British media BBC reported this information in a report on Monday (August 19).

Mark Smith wrote to colleagues in an e-mail last Friday that he had raised concerns at “every level” of the Foreign Office, including the official whistle-blowing mechanism. But he got nothing but basic acknowledgment (of his complaint).

Mark Smith was working at the British Embassy in Dublin. The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office declined to comment on his resignation. The British government is committed to upholding international law, the ministry said.

Mark Smith sent his resignation email to a number of government officials, embassy staff and special advisers to Foreign Office ministers.

Mark Smith noted in his resignation e-mail, 'He previously worked on the British government's arms export licensing assessment in the Middle East. Every day he and his colleagues witnessed 'clear and unquestionable examples' of Israel's war crimes and violations of international human rights law in Gaza.'

He wrote, 'Senior members of the Israeli government and military have openly expressed genocidal intent, filming Israeli soldiers deliberately burning, destroying and looting civilian property. All roads and universities in Gaza have been destroyed, humanitarian aid is blocked and civilians have no safe place to flee. Red Crescent ambulances are attacked, schools and hospitals are regularly targeted. These are war crimes.'

According to him, 'in such circumstances there is no justification for the UK to continue selling arms to Israel.'

It should be noted that since the unprecedented cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7 last year, Israel has been carrying out continuous air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza so far in Israeli attacks. In addition, more than 92,000 Palestinians were injured.
In this situation, human rights groups and other critics are accusing Western countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, of supplying weapons to Israel and supporting Israel's brutal aggression.