§ Mr. SheermanTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement regarding the sale of arms to Israel. [77510]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe UK arms trade with Israel is tiny. All relevant export licence applications are rigorously assessed on a case by case basis against the consolidated EU and national arms export licensing criteria, taking account of the circumstances prevailing at the time and other relevant announced Government policies. Our criteria clearly set out our commitment to take account of the risk that exports might be used for internal repression or external aggression. The outbreak of the intifada, continued Israeli incursions in the occupied territories and the Israeli breach of its assurance that UK originated equipment would not be used in the occupied territories have all been factored in to the Government's current export licensing policy.