UK High Court Upholds Arms Exports to Israel, Dismisses Hamas‑Linked Al‑Haq Case

The UK High Court has delivered a decisive victory for Israel by rejecting a legal challenge from Al-Haq, a Palestinian group with documented ties to the terrorist organization Hamas, which sought to block Britain’s export of F-35 fighter jet components to Israel. Al-Haq, designated a terrorist affiliate by Israel in 2021 for its links to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, falsely claimed the UK was complicit in alleged Palestinian atrocities by supplying parts through the global F-35 supply chain. This challenge, backed by groups like Amnesty International and Oxfam, is part of a broader Hamas-driven propaganda campaign to undermine Israel’s legitimate self-defense against relentless terror attacks, including the October 7, 2023, massacre that killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 250 others, 50 of whom are still being held in Gaza with only 20 hostages still alive.

The court, led by Justices Stephen Males and Karen Steyn, dismissed Al-Haq’s 13 grounds of challenge, affirming that decisions on arms exports are a matter of national security for the government, not courts. “Under our constitution, that acutely sensitive and political issue is a matter for the executive, which is democratically accountable to Parliament and ultimately to the electorate, not for the courts,” the judges declared in their 72-page ruling. The UK, a key contributor to the F-35 program with 15% of each jet’s components, including laser targeting systems, maintains a £500 million repair hub in North Wales. Over 500 shipments of parts have been sent to the U.S. for the global supply chain, supporting Israel’s 46 F-35s, with plans to expand to 75.

Al-Haq’s Shawan Jabarin called the ruling a setback but vowed to persist, saying, “Despite the outcome of today, this case has centered the voice of the Palestinian people and has rallied significant public support, and it is just the start.” This rhetoric masks Hamas’s strategy of exploiting legal systems to weaken Israel while ignoring its own war crimes, such as using Gaza civilians as shields and attacking aid workers, as seen in the June 12, 2025, ambush that killed eight Gaza Humanitarian Foundation staff. The UK’s decision to suspend 30 of 350 arms licenses in September 2024, while exempting F-35 parts, reflects a balanced approach, ensuring Israel can counter threats from Hamas and its Iranian backers, who launched a $1.3 billion missile barrage in June 2025. Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, supported by F-35s, neutralized Iran’s nuclear threat, protecting global security. This ruling exposes Hamas’s propaganda for what it is: a desperate attempt to disguise terrorism as activism.