Rights groups call on UK to end all arms sales to Israel as court case begins

Rights groups and charities gathered outside the Royal Courts of Justice on Tuesday to support a legal challenge against the UK government's continuing export of F-35 fighter jet parts for use by Israel.

Groups present at the protest included Palestinian rights group Al-Haq, which bought forward the current case with the support of the Global Action Legal Network (GLAN), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam.

Zarah Sultana, a suspended Labour MP, joined the protest alongside independent MPs Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, and Imran Hussain.Sultana told Middle East Eye that British arms exports to Israel made the UK "complicit in genocide" in Gaza.

"Every F-35, which is described as the most lethal fighter by its own manufacturer, is dropping 2,000-pound bombs on people in Gaza and decimating whole neighbourhoods and universities," Sultana said.

"And with 15 percent of every F-35 made here in the UK, it makes us complicit in the live-streamed genocide unfolding in Gaza."

Reporting by Areeb Ullah in London.

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