Nicholas Blanford
Daily Star staff

British MPs are pressing their government to block the purchase of Israeli anti-tank missiles which were test-fired in South Lebanon and are being used against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

Labor Party MP George Galloway has introduced an Early Day Motion (EDM) in Parliament, seeking to stop the Defense Ministry from buying the Gil/Spike anti-tank missile. The EDM was prompted by several Daily Star reports from August 1998 detailing incidents in which the Gil/Spike was used by Israeli troops against civilians in South Lebanon.

“This House notes the Ministry of Defense is in the process of selecting the Gil/Spike anti-tank missile, a weapon … openly used against civilian targets in Israeli-occupied territories,” reads the EDM, which has so far drawn the support of 13 MPs.

The EDM says a number of Lebanese civilians “were killed and injured when clearly targeted by the missile between 1998 and 1999” and that the missile’s first operational use “in the Palestinian territories was against a civilian house in Beit Jala.”

The EDM says “willful targeting of civilians is a war crime and should be opposed and not rewarded.” It also urges the government “not to purchase this anti-tank missile.”

The British Defense Ministry has bought $4.4 million worth of Gil/Spike missiles and the rival US Javelin system for a series of trials. The British Army’s rapid reaction units will be equipped with the winning system.

“This … weapon was tested on the civilians of Lebanon and Palestine, both illegally occupied territories,” Galloway told The Daily Star. “This should be punished, not rewarded by lucrative arms contracts.”

One civilian was killed and four others wounded in South Lebanon between May 1998 and June 1999 by what UNIFIL peacekeepers described as a “mini-cruise missile.”

The Gil and Spike missiles are the same weapon with different targeting modes and ranges. The weapon was introduced to the Israeli military in 1998, although the longer-range Spike version was still classified at the time.

The EDM’s driving force is Neil Sammonds of the London-based Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. He has lobbied for an arms embargo on Israel.

“I wanted the Ministry of Defense to know that we’re watching them, that we know the bloody and immoral history of the equipment they try to secretly buy,” Sammonds said. “Israel should not be profiting by selling military equipment used in war crimes and … making more money for the military … to commit even more crimes.”

Finland, Singapore and The Netherlands have bought the Gil/Spike, which is also marketed to Denmark, Germany, Norway, Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy and Sweden.

Sammonds believes there is a 50-50 chance of preventing the Gil/Spike purchase.
“The Netherlands has already purchased Gil/Spike and since they are NATO partners, and with interoperability of weapons being a bonus, Britain is less likely to pull out,” he said.

But with Britain’s arms trade relations with Israel in the spotlight, Sammonds said it would be “very uncomfortable for the government were it to buy Gil/Spike now.”
The Gil/Spike is believed to have been widely used by Israeli ground forces during the 19-month intifada. A report last year in the Jerusalem Post referred to it being fired from an Israeli Navy patrol boat at targets in Gaza.

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