More than 300 Foreign Office staff have been told to consider resigning after they wrote a letter complaining they feared it had become complicit in Israel’s alleged war crimes in Gaza.
It is the fourth such internal letter from staff about the offensive inGaza, which started in October 2023 in response to Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel.
In their letter of 16 May the staff, from embassies around the world and at various levels of seniority, questioned the UK’s continued arms sales and what they called Israel’s “stark … disregard for international law”.
The Foreign Office said it had systems for staff to raise concerns and added the government had “rigorously applied international law” in relation to the war in Gaza.
The reply to the letter was sent by the permanent under-secretary, Oliver Robbins, and Nick Dyer, the second most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office. They told the signatories: “[I]f your disagreement with any aspect of government policy or action is profound, your ultimate recourse is to resign from the civil service. This is an honourable course.”
The reply did not address the substantive complaints by staff.
The letter, first reported by the BBC, said: “In July 2024, staff expressed concern about Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law and potential UK government complicity. In the intervening period, the reality of Israel’s disregard for international law has become more stark.”
It went on to list the killing by Israeli forces of 15 humanitarian workers in March and Israel’s suspension of all aid to Gaza in the same month “leading many experts and humanitarian organisations to accuse Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war”.
It said the UK government’s position had contributed to “the erosion of global norms”, citing continued weapons exports and the visit to London in April by Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, “despite concerns about violations of international law”. The Foreign Office described Sa’ar’s visit as private, even though he met the foreign secretary,David Lammy.
The staff letter added that “supported by the Trump administration, the Israeli government has made explicit plans for the forcible transfer of Gaza’s population”.
In response, Robbins and Dyer said the department welcomed “healthy challenge” as part of the policymaking process and had already set up a “bespoke Challenge Board” and regular listening sessions with employees to hear concerns in this policy area.
They wrote that staff were entitled to their personal views, but added it “might be helpful” to “remind” them of mechanisms available to those uncomfortable with policy. It went on to list a series of ways staff could raise issues, before adding that resignation was an “ultimate recourse” and “honourable course” for those with profound disagreements over government policy.
“[T]he bargain at the heart of the British civil service is that we sign up to deliver the policies of the government of the day wholeheartedly, within the limits imposed by the law and the civil service code,” it said.
The UK government’s position is that Israel is “at risk” of breaching humanitarian law, the threshold for barring arms exports, but says it is for international courts to determine if breaches of international law have occurred, which will not be fully determined for many years.
Senior foreign office ministers are due to be challenged in the business select committee over why the government is continuing to sell parts and components to theF-35 programmewithout placing a condition that the parts are not sent on to Israel.
The UK is not selling directly to Israel, and claims it has no option but to supply the parts or see the whole F-35 programme grind to a halt, affecting Nato operations defending Europe.
The carve-out of F-35s from the ban on UK arms being sold to Israel, imposed in September, is beingtested in the high courtby the NGOs Global Legal Action Network and Al-Haq.
The Foreign Office in its court submissions, likely to be the subject of cross-examination by the business committee, said it had determined Israel was not committing a genocide in Gaza, which appears to contradict the stance that only the UK courts can make such a ruling. It also said it could not take a position on specific attacks by Israel since it did not have definitive evidence.
In September, Lammy announced the suspension of about 30 arms exports licences to Israel, and said the remaining licences were not relevant to the war in Gaza – although the government admits some of the licences allow exports to the Israel Defense Forces.
Israel has consistently denied committing war crimes in Gaza, saying its actions are proportionate and necessary to eradicate Hamas, which it says uses hospitals and school premises to protect itself.
The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has gathered the names of 50 MPs backinghis call for an independent public inquiryinto UK involvement in military operations in Gaza. Corbyn has been among MPs pressing ministers to explain why RAF jets from the UK base in Akrotiri in Cyprus fly regularly over Gaza. More than 300 surveillance flights have been recorded, allegedly in search of Hamas-held hostages.
Questions are also being asked if Israel acted lawfully byintercepting the ship Madleenin international waters, containing Greta Thunberg and 11 other campaigners seeking to highlight the blockade of food into Gaza.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition , the group operating the UK-flagged Madleen, said all 12 campaigners were “being processed and transferred into the custody of Israeli authorities”. The Foreign Office has not commented.