More than 300 Foreign Office staff have been advised to consider resigning if they profoundly disagree with the UK government’s policy on Gaza. The staff members had raised concerns about potential UK “complicity” in Israel’s conduct in Gaza, questioning the UK’s continued arms sales and Israel’s disregard for international law.
In a letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy, officials expressed their concerns, citing the scale of civilian death toll in Gaza, Israel’s restrictions on aid supply, and Israeli settlement expansion and settler violence in the occupied West Bank. They also felt that their warnings had not been acted upon, and those implementing decisions could be liable in future legal proceedings against the UK government.
The Foreign Office responded, stating that it had systems in place for staff to raise concerns and that the government had “rigorously applied international law” in relation to the war in Gaza. Sir Oliver Robbins and Nick Dyer, the two most senior civil servants, wrote: “If your disagreement with any aspect of government policy or action is profound, your ultimate recourse is to resign from the Civil Service. This is an honourable course.”
This response was met with “outrage” and “frustration” among staff, with one official saying: “There is frustration and a deep sense of disappointment that the space for challenge is being further shut down.” A former official described the response as “obfuscation,” providing the government with “supposed ‘plausible deniability’ for enabling breaches of international law.”
The UK government has suspended around 30 arms export licenses to Israel, citing a “clear risk” they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law. The government maintains that Israel is “at risk” of breaching humanitarian law, while Israel claims to operate according to international law. Palestinian rights groups have rejected this, taking evidence to several legal cases brought internationally.