British Diplomat Resigns Over UK Arms Sales to Israel

A British Foreign Office official who worked on counter-terrorism has resigned in protest over arms sales to Israel. He said the British government “may be complicit in war crimes”.

Diplomat resigns from British Foreign Office over Gaza

Mark Smith, the British FCDO diplomat, has submitted a letter headlined "FCDO complicity in War Crimes" announcing his resignation.

He declared that there is "no justification for the UK's continued arms sales to Israel"… pic.twitter.com/Q4yWDFpSg2

— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) August 16, 2024

His resignation is trending on the social media with commentary.

Mark Smith, who worked at the British Embassy in Dublin, wrote to colleagues on Friday that he had raised concerns “at every level” of the Foreign Office but to no avail.

Smith in his letter of resignation said he had previously worked on evaluating arms export licensing in the Middle East for the government, and that his colleagues “every day” were seeing “clear and indisputable examples” of war crimes and violations of international humanitarian law by Israel in Gaza.

Foreign Office diplomat Mark Smith – an expert in arms licensing and sales resigned from his role saying he cannot serve in a dept he thinks is complicit in ‘unquestionable’ war crimes &which has both covered-up #Israel’s unfitness to receive UK weapons https://t.co/zj6v2LLleN

— Korin (@corinthians1312) August 17, 2024

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office declined to comment on individual cases, but said the government was committed to upholding international law according to JO24.

One blogger states: “We wait with bated breath for this extremely serious matter to be covered by all of the mainstream media and for government ministers to be rigorously questioned.”