A LABOUR MP is set to present a bill to parliament to suspend the sale of arms to Israel.
On Monday, Zarah Sultana, the MP for Coventry South, announced she would be presenting the Arms Trade (Inquiry and Suspension) Bill.
If passed, the bill would launch an inquiry into the use of weapons sold to foreign states and immediately suspend arms sales to any state that might use them in violation of international law.
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Sultana was one of 56 Labour MPs to rebel against Keir Starmer in a vote calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on November 15.
MPs rejected the SNP’s King’s Speech amendment calling for “all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
In a statement posted on Twitter/X, Sultana said the UK Government was “deeply complicit” in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, calling its actions a “moral travesty”.
She said: “The British government is deeply complicit in the atrocities being inflicted on the Palestinian people: from refusing to vote for a ceasefire at the UN Security Council on Friday, to continuing to sell arms to the Israeli military.
“Since 2015, arms sales worth £474 million have been licensed to Israel, including parts of F-35 fighter jets, which are currently being used to obliterate Gaza.
“This is a moral travesty, which is why I am bringing a bill to Parliament to help end Britain’s complicity.
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“This would ensure that we don’t just stand idly by whilst children are slaughtered with weapons made on our shores.
“Parliament should say loud and clear: no more arms sales for war crimes.”
This comes as the UN Security Council voted on December 8 on whether to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
The USA vetoed the resolution, and the UK was the only nation to abstain from the vote.
Commenting at the time, Sultana said this showed the “utterly shameful complicity in a massacre of people.”
Around 17,000 Palestinians, at least 7000 of which are thought to be children, are estimated to have been killed since October 7.
This comes after The National exclusively revealed the UK would not share evidence of war crimes in Gaza if it was collected during reconnaissance flights over Palestine.
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