Resigned UK official: Israel perpetrating war crimes in plain sight

“What we can see is appalling acts of violence perpetrated on civilians, on civilian property,” Mark Smith, formerly the lead author of the central assessment governing the legality of UK arms sales in the Foreign Office’s Middle East and North Africa directorate, said in an interview with BBC Radio 4.

“It’s actually quite clear, even from what you can see in open source… that the state of Israel is perpetrating war crimes in plain sight,” he said.

“Anybody who has a basic understanding of these things can see that there are war crimes being committed not once, not twice, not a few times, but quite flagrantly and openly and regularly.”

When asked if he had raised the issue internally, Smith responded that he done so “at pretty much every level”, including with Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

“That’s my duty and that would be quite normal for public servants, we’re are very used to upholding the law,” he added.

“We would normally raise things internally that we might have a question over, particularly if we have subject matter specialism, as I do.”

But he said he received an “unsatisfactory” response, prompting his resignation.

In his leaked resignation letter, which was first reported by Hind Hassan on X on Friday evening and then confirmed by Middle East Eye, Smith said that after raising his concerns in the department, including through a whistleblowing investigation, he received nothing more than “thank you we have noted your concern”.

In his letter, Smith said this disregard “is deeply troubling. It is my duty as a public servant to raise this,” and called for other officials “to join the many colleagues who have also raised concerns over this issue”.

Smith is the first known British official to resign over Israel’s war on Gaza.

But since 7 October, disquiet has been growing among civil servants over the UK’s continued arms sales to Israel.

In May, a former civil servant working on international aid policy reported in Declassified UK that up to 300 Foreign Office staff had formally raised concerns about Britain’s complicity in Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

In July, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents British civil servants, requested a meeting with the Cabinet Office over the war in Gaza and its implication for government employees.

On his first day in office, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he had requested a comprehensive review of Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law.

In July, sources told MEE that the UK was expected to introduce restrictions on arms sales to Israel, but subsequent reports in the Times and Guardian suggested the decision was delayed due to legal difficulties in defining UK-made weapons that are used by Israel in its war on Gaza, and those that are used for defence.