A sign at the ‘Stop Starving Gaza’ outside Muriel Matters House in Hastings, 1 August 2025. Photo: Hastings PSC
Hastings MP backs continued UK arms sales to Israel
Hastings’ Labour MP, Helena Dollimore, has finally broken her silence on UK arms sales to Israel. Gabriel Carlyle reports.
Local campaigners have long been trying to get local MP Helena Dollimore to take a public position on UK arms sales to Israel.
This has proven difficult for at least two reasons.
Firstly, because she knows that her government’s policy – to continue supplying Israel with crucial military hardware, while the latter is conducting a live-streamed genocide – is highly unpopular. (According to an Opinium poll conducted between 30 May and 2 June, 57% of the public supports a full arms embargo on Israel, with only 13% opposed.)
And secondly, because she has refused to have meetings with local constituents about the topic recorded, has consistently failed to respond to emails and letters from constituents about the topic (I for one have received no response since she got elected), and it’s been very difficult to get to see her in person to talk about Gaza – either in Parliament or locally.
Up to now her silence has spoken volumes. However, she has finally put her position in writing.
Hastings Online Times recently became aware of a letter, dated 29 May, sent from Helena Dollimore to a constituent. In it the MP writes:
When taking office last July, the Labour Government commissioned legal advice regarding the risk of arms exports being used to breach international humanitarian law. The Government then acted immediately on this legal advice on 2nd September, suspending around 30 arms export licences where there is a risk of these being used to breach international law in Gaza. There are exemptions from this that relate to the international supply chain for F-35 jets because any suspension could impact supplies for Ukraine, which we would not want to do. (emphases added)
The letter also condemns the ‘awful’ suffering of civilians in Gaza, which she describes as ‘totally unacceptable’.
However, these words ring very hollow given her government’s failure to impose any meaningful form of sanctions on Israel and her ongoing refusal to challenge this failure.
Moreover, Ms Dollimore fails to mention that the UK’s ongoing supply of crucial components for the F35 fighter aircraft are the single largest and most important part of the UK’s arms trade with Israel.
Or the fact that without the continuous supply of spare parts from the UK, as well as other producer countries, it would be impossible for Israel to keep using the F-35s to bomb Gaza. (In July 2024, an F-35 was used to drop three 2000lb bombs in an attack on a so-called “safe zone” in Al-Mawasi – an area of Gaza that has Council-backed friendship links with Hastings – killing 90 people.)
Or the fact that, notwithstanding the High Court’s recent failure to intervene, continued arms sales to Israel are illegal under the Genocide Convention.
It’s genocide
The front cover of Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem’s July 2025 report ‘Our Genocide’
At this point, there can be little doubt that what Israel is doing in Gaza meets the legal definition of genocide.
Indeed, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, two of Israel’s leading human rights organisations (B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights), and a growing consensus of genocide scholars (including Israeli scholars) have all accused Israel of carrying out genocide in Gaza.
This fact carries clear legal obligations for the UK government – not least an end to all UK arms sales.
Yet Helena Dollimore has consistently refused to acknowledge that a genocide is taking place – or that the UK is obliged to take all necessary steps to prevent it.
Instead, in her 29 May letter she writes:
It is important that the international courts are left to rule where international humanitarian law is breached, and it is important they are able to do this independently of politicians. Under this Government, the UK supports and respects the independence of the International Criminal Court and the UK is fully committed to upholding international law.
Yet as Tufts University’s Alex de Waal – who has 40 years of experience as a humanitarian worker and famine expert – notes:
On March 28, 2024, the International Court of Justice issued a provisional order instructing Israel to provide a full spectrum of assistance, immediately, unhindered, in full cooperation with the UN. Justice Aharon Barak, the Israeli judge nominated to sit on the court, also voted for that, making the decision unanimous. The court voted overwhelmingly – 14-2 and 15-1 on slightly different measures – that providing such assistance was an obligation under the Genocide Convention, implying that should Israel fail to do so, it would not be respecting its obligation to prevent genocide. As you know, Israel has not fulfilled these obligations.
The Genocide Convention is, first and foremost, a convention to prevent genocide. The question of whether there is or is not genocide is secondary to the question of whether Israel and other states that are party to the Genocide Convention are fulfilling their obligations to prevent genocide. They are not doing so.
In other words, Dollimore’s suggestion that the UK government should refrain from taking action (indeed, should continue arming the state accused of genocide) until the International Criminal Court has made a final ruling on whether or not Israel is guilty of genocide (a process that is likely to take years), is the precise opposite of the Convention’s purpose.
What’s needed
As the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has recently noted:
Every British MP and government official has seen the images of Palestinian children reduced to skeletons, of adults collapsing from organ failure caused by starvation, and of aid seekers shot and killed by Israeli soldiers whilst queuing for food and water. Every British MP and government official is also aware of the fact that British-exported weapons are being used by the Israeli military in its brutality against Palestinian civilians and complete devastation of the Gaza Strip’s infrastructure. British politicians are now bemoaning the images of horror, but continuing to act as partners in Israel’s genocide by maintaining trade with Israel, including in weapons and other military items, and by implementing limited sanctions on a few individual ministers, as though Israel’s genocide is being engineered and carried out by a ‘few bad apples’ …
Palestinian civil society has been overwhelmingly clear about what is needed from Britain and other states to end Israel’s genocide:
- To do everything in their power to secure an unconditional ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli military forces from Gaza, and the immediate, unrestricted provision of humanitarian assistance;
- An immediate and comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, including an end to all military cooperation;
- An end to all economic aid and cooperation agreements that sustain Israel’s unlawful occupation and apartheid regime, including cancelling free trade agreements;
- Comprehensive sanctions on the entire Israeli government. This should include expelling Israeli ambassadors and suspending official visits and cooperation with Israeli authorities, freezing assets and travel bans on complicit individuals and institutions, and expelling Israel from the UN;
- Actively supporting accountability measures through international legal forums, including the ICC and ICJ;
- Supporting the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and return, which cannot be substituted by a conditional recognition of a limited Palestinian state.
The full text of Helena Dollimore’s 29 May 2025 letter
Re: Gaza Update
The death and destruction we have seen since the beginning of the conflict following Hamas’ atrocious terror attack on 7 October 2023 is unbearable. In the year and a half since civilians in Gaza have faced an increasingly desperate situation. For those of us who hoped that the ceasefire agreement would lead to an end to the suffering of the people of Gaza and the release of all the hostages being cruelly held, the events of recent months have been terrible with the ceasefire breaking down.
I have raised the conflict and humanitarian situation numerous times in Parliament, including in my first speech after being elected. Most recently, I asked the Minister in Parliament what steps the Government is taking to get aid back into Gaza, secure the release of the remaining hostages and move towards new ceasefire agreement, and you can watch it here. I know how deeply this issue has affected people across our community so I continue to speak regularly with Hamish Falconer MP, the Minister for the Middle East, to raise the concerns of so many of my constituents about the situation.
I strongly oppose the expansion of military operations in Gaza by the Israeli military. I agree with our Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent joint statement (link) with the leaders of France and Canada that the level of human suffering in Gaza is totally unacceptable. The Israeli Government must cease its military actions immediately, reengage with the UN, and allow humanitarian and aid groups full access to Gaza. I support the efforts led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt for a long-term ceasefire and peace agreement. This is the only pathway to securing a two-state solution, ending the awful experience of the hostages and their families and the suffering of civilians in Gaza.
The Labour Government has been working with NGO partners to support the humanitarian operating by restoring funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, and working with our Arab partners to plan the reconstruction of Gaza. The Labour Government also recently reached agreement with Project Pure Hope to bring injured children from Gaza to the UK to receive much needed medical support here. For over 70 days the Israeli military instituted a complete blockade of all aid into Gaza. This means that vital food and medical aid has been sitting at the Gazan border unable to reach those who desperately need it. As I said in parliament, aid cannot be used as a weapon of war. The recent statement from the Israeli Government that they will allow basic amounts of aid, to quote Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu “just enough to precent hunger”, is completely unacceptable. Both the UN and the World Health Organisation have warned that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians face starvation unless aid is restored. I note with deep concern and alarm the words of UN Humanitarian Chief Tom Fletcher to the UN Security Council and I fully back his calls for the UN to be allowed full access to Gaza to provide vital humanitarian support.
The killing of 15 paramedics and rescue workers in Rafah was an outrage, and this incident must be independently investigated and those responsible held to account. I have spoken in parliament about the fact that during this conflict we have seen hundreds of aid workers lose their lives, which is not only a moral outrage but also makes it harder for NGOs and UN Agencies to operate properly and deliver aid. Under International Humanitarian Law, humanitarian workers and operations must be protected, and so attacks on aid workers, hospitals and schools are appalling and must be properly investigated by the UN and international courts. When I was an aid worker with Save the Children, I saw first-hand the danger that many humanitarian workers put themselves in to save lives and I will always support the vital work that they do in every way that I can.
It is important that the international courts are left to rule where international humanitarian law is breached, and it is important they are able to do this independently of politicians. Under this Government, the UK supports and respects the independence of the International Criminal Court and the UK is fully committed to upholding international law.
When taking office last July, the Labour Government commissioned legal advice regarding the risk of arms exports being used to breach international humanitarian law. The Government then acted immediately on this legal advice on 2nd September, suspending around 30 arms export licences where there is a risk of these being used to breach international law in Gaza. There are exemptions from this that relate to the international supply chain for F-35 jets because any suspension could impact supplies for Ukraine, which we would not want to do. What we are hearing from the Netanyahu Government is extremist; Israeli Government Ministers calling for the “cleansing” and forceful relocation of the Palestinian population. I echo the Foreign Secretary David Lammy MP in condemning these dangerous and extremist comments and I am strongly opposed to any forced displacement of Palestinians nor any reduction in Gazan territory. Palestinians must determine the future of Gaza with support from regional partners and the international community. Palestinian civilians must also be able to return to and rebuild their homes and lives. This is a right guaranteed under international law.
I am glad that in response to these escalations the Foreign Secretary has suspended negotiations with the Israeli Government for a new free trade agreement and summoned the Israeli ambassador to communicate these concerns directly. I know that the UK Government is reviewing the options of further sanctions and the Prime Minister has made clear that if the Israeli Government does not change course there will be further actions in response.
Throughout this period of conflict I have been engaging with our local Jewish and Muslim communities, I believe it is deeply important that we do not let antisemitism and islamophobia take root in our community. The Community Safety Trust have reported a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents and Tell Mama have reported a record surge in incidents of anti-Muslim hate. This is deeply concerning and as politicians we have a responsibility to bridge divides and bring the community together amid rising hate crime.
Conflict has of course been taking place also in the West Bank as well. I condemn the illegal settlements being built there and the state-backed settler violence against the Palestinian people. The rate of expansion has accelerated rapidly, undermining regional stability, Israel’s own security and the prospect for a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. It is my view that Israel should end its presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as rapidly as possible. The Labour Government will continue to sanction illegal settler outposts and organisations that have supported and sponsored violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank. This includes new sanctions a further 3 individuals and 4 organisations involved in the settler movement.
I believe Palestinian statehood is an inalienable right of the Palestinian people. The UK Government is committed to recognising a Palestinian state as a key step in a peace process to reach a two-state solution with a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable and sovereign Palestinian state. This is the only long-term route to safety and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike. This is why the Keir Starmer recently hosted Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in Downing Street for the first time ever, continuing our work with the Palestinian Authority to plan for the reconstruction of Gaza, ending Hamas’ control of the territory, as part of a sovereign Palestinian State.
Thank you for contacting me about this serious, and saddening, issue. I believe that diplomacy is the only viable path to peace, not airstrikes and gunfire, a ceasefire is the only path to a lasting peace in the region. We must preserve hope for the sake of civilians suffering in Gaza and for the remaining hostages. For the future of two peoples who have suffered so much for so long, a two-state solution remains the only path to a just and lasting peace, and I will keep calling for a return to this path.
All the best,
Helena Dollimore
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