Some of Britain’s leading Jewish voices expressed concern and anger this week after the newly installed Labour government headed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced it would be suspending the exports of some weapons to Israel over fears they could be used to break international humanitarian law.

Speaking in the U.K. parliament on Monday, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who highlighted that he was “friend of Israel and a liberal, progressive Zionist,” explained that the decision stemmed from an assessment that “for certain U.K. arms exports to Israel there does exist a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

“This is a forward-looking evaluation, not a determination of innocence or guilt,” he noted. “And it does not prejudge any future determinations by the competent courts. But facing a conflict such as this, it is this government’s legal duty to review export licences.”

While British firms sell a relatively small number of weapons and components to Israel compared to the U.S. and other major suppliers such as Germany, as one of Israel’s closest allies, the decision appears highly symbolic and could also pave the way for the U.K. government to take further action against the Jewish state as it battles Iranian-backed terror groups on multiple fronts.

Lammy said that the decision would apply only to about 30 of 350 existing export licenses for equipment that it had assessed would be used “in the current conflict in Gaza.” The equipment includes parts for military planes, helicopters and drones, as well as items used for ground targeting. Earlier this year, the U.K. government said its military exports to Israel amounted to 42 million pounds ($53 million) in 2022, according to reports.

“It beggars belief that the British government, a close strategic ally of Israel, has announced a partial suspension of arms licenses, at a time when Israel is fighting a war for its very survival on seven fronts forced upon it on the 7th October, and at the very moment when six hostages murdered in cold blood by cruel terrorists were being buried by their families,” Britain’s chief rabbi, Sir Ephraim Mirvis, wrote in a post on X, on Wednesday.

“As Israel faces down the threat of Iran and its proxies, not just to its own people, but to all of us in the democratic west; this announcement feeds the falsehood that Israel is in breach of International Humanitarian Law, when in fact it is going to extraordinary lengths to uphold it,” he continued, adding “Sadly, this announcement will serve to encourage our shared enemies.”

Mirvis also pointed out that it will do nothing, as Lammy suggested in his parliamentary speech, “to secure the release of the remaining 101 hostages, nor contribute to the peaceful future we wish and pray for, for all people in the region and beyond.”

“Britain and Israel have so much to gain by standing together against our common enemies for the sake of a safer world. Surely that must be the way forward,” he added.

U.K.-based journalist Nicole Lampert, a close observer of UK-Israel relations, told Jewish Insider that the decision felt like “a slap in the face.”

“It makes me wonder what our often-vaunted British values actually are,” she said. “Did we ever mean them? Because rather than standing with our democratic ally as it fights a terrorist group, we signaled to Hamas that we think they have a point.”

Lampert said the timing of the announcement was particularly hurtful coming just a few hours after the televised funeral of American Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin and “a few days after Hamas reminded us exactly who and what they are by murdering six hostages in cold blood.”

“British Jews have had a torrid time with this iteration of the Labour Party,” she continued, explaining that Lammy had helped to get the now ousted antisemitic Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on the ballot in 2015.

“Many British Jews have felt like there has been blow after blow after blow in the last few weeks,” Lampert continued. “I would mind less if Lammy and our government (and much of our media) would spend at least some time exposing the perfidy of Hamas, yet this is something that is never ever discussed out in the open.”

There were hopes in the British Jewish community that a reformed Labor party, which had turned the page on the Corbyn years, would uphold the support for Israel held by previous Labour leaders. But less than a month after being elected to power in July, the new Starmer government is already taking a tougher stance towards the Jewish state.

Immediately, Starmer and Lammy, who visited Israel two weeks after his appointment, began pushing for an immediate cease-fire without conditions. Labour also announced a decision to resume funding for the controversial U.N. Relief and Works Agency, despite evidence some of its employees were actively involved in Hamas’ terror activities, including holding Israeli hostages. The new government also decided to drop the previous leadership’s objections to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC)’s jurisdiction over Israel.

Michael Rubin, director of Labor Friends of Israel, who told JI in June that he was “confident that a Labour government will continue the tradition… of strong and consistent support for the State of Israel,” expressed disappointment and concern with the arm sales ban, directing JI to an op-ed he penned this week for The Times and a statement issued by LFI.

“Since Oct. 7, Israel has come under repeated, unprovoked and indiscriminate attack by Iran and its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis. We do not believe that restrictions on U.K. arms sales will help bring the tragic conflict in Gaza to a close or help ensure the release of the hostages, six of whom Hamas brutally murdered just days ago,” read the statement.

“Moreover, we are deeply concerned by the signal this sends to Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of state terrorism and Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Ukraine,” it continued. “We fear therefore that these restrictions risk encouraging Israel’s enemies, leading to greater escalation rather than deescalation.”

Writing in The Sun newspaper on Tuesday, Philip Rosenberg, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, called the decision to ban the sale of some weapons to Israel “symbolic,” warning that such steps echoed the Labour Party’s past antisemitism and were capitulating to terror.

“Following the announcement of the export ban, I met with the Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Attorney General Richard Hermer,” Rosenberg wrote in the piece. “One of the items they told us they were no longer sending are drones. These are an essential tool in the search for hostages, who are being held captive in homes and tunnels all over the Gaza Strip by Hamas and other terror outfits.”

“It doesn’t make sense to hinder this humanitarian operation, which the Government says it supports,” he continued, noting, the government was defending the ban by arguing that it is only ten per cent of the U.K.’s arms exports to Israel and that Israel can still defend itself.”

“If it doesn’t make any material difference, then the ban is only symbolic,” wrote Rosenberg, adding “the signalling is all wrong.”

“It sends a message to other allies that we may not be as dependable as we should be and it sends a message to our adversaries that we might be weak on terrorism,” he highlighted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also responded with criticism to the U.K. government decision, posting on X, “This shameful decision will not change Israel’s determination to defeat Hamas, a genocidal terrorist organization that savagely murdered 1200 people on Oct. 7, including 14 British citizens.”

“Hamas is still holding over 100 hostages, including 5 British citizens,” he continued in the post. “Instead of standing with Israel, a fellow democracy defending itself against barbarism, Britain’s misguided decision will only embolden Hamas…. Israel is pursuing a just war with just means, taking unprecedented measures to keep civilians out of harm’s way and comporting fully with international law.”