On May 13-16, 2025, the UK High Court held a hearing on a challenge to the government’s refusal to suspend export licenses for F-35 components produced in the UK as part of a global program that includes Israel. The case against the British government was brought by two NGOs and supported by others. 

Timeline of the Case

On October 18, 2023, Al-Haq and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) sent a letter to the UK government, demanding that the UK “suspend all weapons export licences to Israel.” According to the NGOs, “British weapons found to be linked to Israel’s breaches of international law ought to have their export licences immediately suspended. The legal groups have made clear that failing to do so would result in a judicial review challenge being brought before the High Court.”

On December 6, 2023, after the government refused to enact an arms embargo, Al-Haq and GLAN filed a legal action with the UK High Court attempting to force a “halt [in] UK weapons sales to Israel over illegal attacks on civilians who are trapped and under siege in Gaza.” According to the NGOs, “Our 40-page submission citing 3000 pages of evidence details allegations of indiscriminate attacks on civilians, starvation, forced displacement, and the serious risk of genocide, including genocidal statements from members of the Knesset and military leaders.” 

In February 2024, the UK High Court dismissed the case, as there was a “high hurdle” to establish that the UK had been irrational in its decision-making, and there was “no realistic prospect of that hurdle being surmounted.” The NGOs appealed the decision, and in April, a High Court judge granted a judicial review hearing for November 2024. 

In June 2024, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and Oxfam were granted permission by the UK High Court to intervene in an “ongoing legal challenge by Al-Haq and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) to the UK’s transfer of arms to Israel.”

In September 2024 – following the new Labour government’s suspension of 30 export licenses to Israel but retaining the license for the F-35 – Al-Haq and GLAN sent a letter to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds, and Defence Secretary John Healey, “putting them on notice of their potential criminal liability for atrocity crimes currently being carried out in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (‘oPt’) by Israel.”

In November 2024, Al-Haq and GLAN “sent the government a pre-action protocol (PAP) letter for judicial review based on new elements of the case,” demanding that  the UK “immediately review the decision to continue to supply arms through the F-35 programme in light of the escalated, man-made humanitarian catastrophe being inflicted by Israel on Palestinians in northern Gaza.” Al-Haq and GLAN then sent a second letter “informing them of their intention to file for ‘interim relief’, an emergency injunction, with the UK High Court over their failure to revoke all arms export licences to Israel or to review their recent decision to exempt the F-35 programme from an earlier arms suspension.” 

Information on UK Participation in the F-35 Programme

The F-35 programme supplies components of F-35 fighter jets for at least nine countries, including Israel. The UK is the second biggest partner in the program, supplying 15% of the parts. More than 500 businesses and thousands of employees in the UK work on the F-35. According to the UK government, the F-35 is necessary for “international peace and security” and a “key contributor to the nation’s economic prosperity.”

NGO Monitor Freedom of Information Requests to UK Government

NGO Monitor has made multiple Freedom of Information Requests to the UK government to determine what NGO and UN material was relied upon by the government in its decision to suspend the 30 export licenses to Israel. In two partial responses from the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (November 2024, May 2025), it was revealed that the government relied upon publications from the following groups:

UNOCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs)
UN OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights)
British Red Cross
Defence for Children International-Palestine
Yesh Din
B’Tselem
Physicians for Human Rights Israel
Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI)
Military Court Watch
Care International
Oxfam
Diakonia
Médecins Sans Frontières
Save the Children
Bellingcat

Other NGOs in Support of the UK F-35 Case

Joint Statement by 29 NGOs

In March 2024, 29 NGOs including, Christian Aid, Oxfam GB, Save the Children UK, Amnesty International UK, Islamic Relief UK, Embrace the Middle East, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, CAFOD, Care International UK, War on Want, Caabu, and Medical Aid for Palestinians, took out a full page ad in The Times stating, “If we want to ensure that the body of law established after the Second World War to protect us all is respected, MPs should support the suspension of arms sales to those suspected of breaking it, including the Government of Israel.”

Open Letter to Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron

In April 2024, Embrace the Middle East, Islamic Relief UK, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, Amnesty International UK, Christian Aid, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Save the Children UK, CAFOD, Caabu, Oxfam GB, and War on Want, signed an open letter to Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch and Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron calling on the UK to “immediately halt arms licences and exports to the Government of Israel.”

Joint Statement by 15 NGOs

In September 2024, 15 UK NGOs, including Amos Trust, Caabu, CAFOD, Embrace the Middle East, Islamic Relief UK, MAP, Oxfam GB, and War on Want, signed a statement “urg[ing] the UK Government to immediately suspend all UK arms exports to Israel, which risk fuelling violations of international law and atrocity crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”

Joint Statement by 15 NGOs

In October 2024, 15 UK NGOs, including Amos Trust, Medical Aid for Palestinians, Caabu, Amnesty International UK, Islamic Relief UK, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights, War on Want, and Oxfam GB, called on the UK to “Suspend all arms transfers – including the F-35 parts – as they continue to facilitate atrocities.”

Joint Statement by 55 UK NGOs

In February 2025, over 230 global NGOs, comprising 55 UK NGOs, including ActionAid UK, Amnesty International UK, Council for Arab-British Understanding (Caabu), Embrace the Middle East, International Centre for Justice for Palestinians, Palestine Action, Sabeel-Kairos UK, and War on Want, were signatories on a statement calling on “governments producing F-35 fighter jets to immediately halt all arms transfers to Israel, including the F-35 jets.”