Dissenting civil servants are silenced, says UK diplomat who quit over Gaza

UK Diplomat Says Concerns Over Arms Sales to Israel Were Silenced

Published September 5, 2025

London, United Kingdom – Mark Smith, a former UK diplomat who resigned last year over Britain’s refusal to halt arms sales to Israel, has revealed that officials raising concerns about Gaza were systematically silenced inside the Foreign Office.

Speaking at an unofficial inquiry in London on Friday, Smith said civil servants were discouraged from recording objections in writing, with sensitive discussions deliberately kept off the record to avoid scrutiny.

“Thousands of conversations about our arms sales policy will never be seen by the public or by a court,” he explained. “I was repeatedly told to make the situation look less bad.”

Smith, who worked as a diplomat and policy adviser, described a culture of “panic and pressure” whenever questions about legality or civilian casualties were raised. He said he was instructed to tone down references to deaths in Gaza and warned not to leave a paper trail.

“It was fully understood in the department that such conversations had to happen in person, never in writing,” he said. “The reason was simple: we didn’t want them to be requested by a court.”

Smith resigned in August 2024, declaring there was “no justification” for the UK to continue supplying weapons as Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza escalated. “To any outside observer, Israel was clearly committing war crimes,” he said.

His testimony came before the so-called “Gaza tribunal” led by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, which is examining allegations of British complicity in Israel’s military campaign. Smith appeared via videolink with his camera switched off.

Few UK officials have taken such a public stand. Fran Heathcote, head of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said the government was effectively forcing civil servants to “engage with a state committing genocide”, in violation of both domestic and international law. She added that many staff have quietly sought advice from the union.

A month after Smith’s resignation, Foreign Secretary David Lammy revoked some export licences, acknowledging there was “a clear risk” British weapons could be used to commit war crimes. But campaigners insist the move was inadequate, pointing to Britain’s role in supplying F-35 fighter jet components that ultimately reach Israel.

“These parts end up in Israeli F-35s,” said Rami Khayal of the Palestinian Youth Movement. “As long as the UK participates in that supply chain, it remains complicit.”