Palestinian rights group challenges UK court over F-35 arms sales

High Court ruling in British government's favour is being appealed

Pro-Palestinian campaigners demonstrated outside weapons manufacturer BAE Systems's Rochdale site on Tuesday. Getty Images

Palestinian human rights group Al Haq is pursuing its legal challenge against the UK government’s licensing of weapons to Israel, targeting its contributions to the global F-35 fighter jet programme.

In June, the UK’s High Court ruled that the government’s licensing of F-35 components was legal, dismissing a case brought by the group in December 2023, which said the completed jets were being used by Israel in Gaza.

The British government issued a partial arms embargo on Israel last September for weapons used in Gaza, but stopped short at F-35 components, arguing that it could not control how the completed jets were sold and used.

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The UK's arms sales to Israel have reached record values despite the ban, with Israel importing nearly £1 million of munitions from British companies so far in 2025, a Channel 4 News investigation revealed this week. The figures, from Israel Tax Authority customs data, included £400,000 in June, the highest monthly amount since the records began in January 2022.

Today, Al Haq will seek to challenge the High Court ruling at a hearing at the Court of Appeal. Though permission hearings are usually done on paper, the court has decided to hold an open court hearing.

Pro-Palestinian campaigners gather outside a BAE Systems site to protest F-35 sales. Dan Kitwood / Getty Images

The activist collective was sanctioned by the US in September for giving evidence to the International Criminal Court its in case on Palestine.

The UN Commission of Inquiry called for a full arms embargo against Israel in September, after it found that Israel had committed genocide in the Gaza Strip.

Protesters gathered outside the UK sites of weapons manufacturers on Tuesday to oppose arms sales to Israel.

The hearing comes as the first part of a ceasefire deal has been agreed between Israel and Hamas, according to US President Donald Trump. But campaigners say they are also seeking an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories and its annexation of the West Bank.

“Israel is blatantly and openly starving, killing and forcibly displacing Palestinians in Gaza, in conditions it has manufactured to be unfit for human survival,” said Shawan Jabarin, director of Al Haq.

Shawan Jabarin, the director of Palestinian human rights group Al Haq. AFP

“If the UK courts are unwilling to hold the government accountable for arming Israel during the deadliest phase of its genocide to date, who will?”

Al Haq is making its appeal on three grounds. First, it will take issue with the High Court’s decision that it did not have the authority to rule on the UK government’s decision.

Al Haq says this leaves a “glaring gap” in how to ensure the UK government acts within the law.

“The court's findings set a dangerous precedent and risk undermining the legal mechanisms designed to ensure government accountability. We must appeal to stop states arming the genocide, for justice for the Palestinian people,” Mr Jabarin said.

The second ground is the argument that the UK’s international legal obligations, including the duty to prevent genocide, are part of common law. Al Haq will also claim that its arguments were mischaracterised by the court.

Al Haq’s case was backed by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch UK.