The Times reported on Tuesday that the signatories told Prime Minister Keir Starmer that despite the ceasefire in Gaza, “now is not the time to return to business as usual with the Israeli government”.
They called on sanctions on the Israeli government to go further.
Among the letter’s signatories was John Deverell, who served in the British army for more than three decades. He was also defence attache in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, including at the time of the 11 September terror attacks.
The other signatories were Andrew Graham, the former director general of the UK defence academy; Peter Currie, a retired major general, and Charlie Herbert, a former senior army commander in Afghanistan.
The letter strongly rejected a claim that Israel’s military followed similar protocols to the British military.
A senior defence ministry official said that “Israel appears to have thorough and rigorous processes for the conduct of hostilities and targeting, that in many respects resemble our own” – an assertion that was cited by the UK government in a legal case on arms exports to Israel last July.
The former senior officers rebutted the claim, stating that there were clear differences. They cited Israel’s use of indiscriminate munitions that had led to “exceptionally disproportionate and avoidable civilian fatalities and widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure”.
They added that evidence of Israeli war crimes was “so well documented and compelling that the British government should cut all military collaboration with Israel forthwith, to avoid the charge of complicity”.
The sanctions that should be imposed, the signatories said, include RAF and British contracted aircraft not being used for any purpose connected with the Israeli military, and a suspension of all military technology transfer.
In September, the UK announced that it was banning Israelis from enrolling at the Royal College of Defence Studies, a prestigious military academy.
The UK was accused of complicity after carrying out near daily reconnaissance flights over Gaza during the war. The flights stopped after the ceasefire.
In addition, despite a partial suspension of arms sales to Israel over the war on Gaza, approved UK arms exports to Israel have skyrocketed under the Labour government.
Export data released in May showed that 20 different licences in categories such as military aircraft, radars, targeting equipment and explosive devices, were approved between October and December 2024.
Arms campaigners said the three-month total was more than what was approved altogether under the Conservative government between 2020 and 2023.
Next year, the British army will decide which consortium of defence firms will carry out a £2bn army training contract to prepare soldiers for a potential future war. A subsidiary of the Israeli defence company Elbit Systems is part of one of the consortiums bidding for the 15-year contract.
Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire agreed in early October, with more than 400 Palestinians killed in Gaza since then, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the genocide began in October 2023 has exceeded 70,000 – the majority of whom are women and children.
At least 171,195 others have been wounded by Israeli forces during that time.
