Arms and Military Cargo Export Controls: Israel Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office
Monday 2nd June 2025

(4 days, 20 hours ago)

Commons Chamber
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Douglas Alexander Portrait Mr Alexander
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We are not directly sending parts to Israel for the F-35s. We are continuing to support the global component pool of the F-35 programme for the reason that I have set out. We as a Government judge that there is a material risk to the security of our NATO allies, and more broadly to European security, if the F-35 aircraft that are used by a number of our allies were no longer able to secure the supplies and the aircraft were therefore no longer able to fly.

Rachael Maskell Portrait Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)
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I want to understand who is making the rules about the spare parts pool. Surely if we are trading into that pool, we have a right to set the rules. If those components are going on to F-35s that are being bought by Israel, we have a right to block those parts or to kick Israel out, as we did with Turkey in 2019.