Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to London said Tuesday he would ask Britain to reverse a partial suspension of arms exports to Israel, a decision taken over rights concerns.
Warren Stephens, an Arkansas-based investment banker and political donor to Trump named for the coveted diplomatic posting, said he was “a little perplexed” by the decision of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“What I’ve read about that, with the UK halting some of their shipments to Israel, is certainly concerning,” Stephens said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“I would do my part to encourage them to reinstate those permits and to try to get them, you know, what they need to continue the fight,” he said.
He was responding to a question of Republican Senator Rick Scott, who said Starmer’s Labour Party “treats Israel as a problem and not a solution” and called on Stephens to “try to educate” Britain on Israel.
Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, announced in September that Britain would suspend 30 out of 350 arms export licenses to Israel out of fear the weapons could be used in breach of humanitarian law as Israel pounds Gaza in response to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
Starmer said at the time that Britain still supported “Israel’s right to self-defense” but was “committed to the international rule of law.”
The decision reversed the position of the previous Conservative government and contrasted with the stance of the United States, which under president Joe Biden voiced concern about Israel’s use of US weapons but with one exception maintained shipments.
The Biden administration did not criticize Starmer’s move, saying Britain made its own sovereign decisions.
Trump has vowed robust support for Israel. Despite slashing the vast majority of US aid abroad, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered the speeding up of some $4 billion in weapons to Israel.
