Legal group calls on Met Police to investigate Elbit Systems UK directors

The Public Interest Law Centre (PILC), with the support of Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), has today submitted a detailed complaint to the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) concerning Israeli arms company Elbit Systems.

The case against Elbit Systems

The complaint asks SO15 to open a criminal investigation into four current and former British directors of Elbit Systems UK Ltd for possible complicity in war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Gaza, under the International Criminal Court Act 2001 (ICCA) and related domestic offences of aiding and abetting.

Drawing on extensive evidence and findings from UN bodies, international courts, human rights organisations and open-source investigations, the complaint sets out the relevant legal framework, Elbit Systems’ corporate structure and UK operations, and the publicly available evidence linking the company to attacks in Gaza.

PILC is bringing the complaint on behalf of a Palestinian national living in the UK whose close family remain in Gaza. It asks SO15’s War Crimes Unit to investigate whether decisions taken by Elbit Systems UK and its UK-based subsidiaries, including the export of drone engines, targeting equipment and other military systems to Israel, may amount to aiding, abetting or otherwise assisting grave breaches of international humanitarian law.

The complaint comes amid growing recognition that serious crimes under international law are taking place in Gaza. The UK secretary of state for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, stated in private messages last year that Israel was “committing war crimes before our eyes” in Gaza.

Amnesty International UK has now warned the government not to row back from that assessment and reiterated its call for an immediate suspension of UK arms transfers to Israel.

CAAT has long documented Elbit Systems’ role in Israeli military operations and its UK-based subsidiaries. For more background, see CAAT’s factsheets.

Key points from the complaint

The complaint argues that the facts clearly meet SO15’s own ‘scoping criteria’ for opening a war-crimes investigation. In particular, it highlights that:

• There is serious, independent evidence that core international crimes have been committed in Gaza since October 2023. This includes findings and reports from the International Court of Justice, UN special procedures and human rights offices, the International Criminal Court, and major NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, which describe patterns of unlawful attacks, starvation as a method of warfare, forced displacement and, according to several authorities, acts of genocide.
• Elbit Systems Ltd (Israel) is a central supplier of weapons and technologies used in Gaza. Open-source research shows that Elbit produces attack drones, guided munitions and targeting systems that have seen use in repeated military operations in Gaza, including during the current offensive.
• Elbit Systems UK and its UK subsidiaries form part of that supply chain. Evidence from NGOs and investigative journalists indicates that UK-based companies within the Elbit group have received multiple export licences for drone engines, targeting systems and other military equipment to Israel, and that shipments from UK sites to Elbit facilities in Israel continued during the current conflict.
• Four UK-national directors held oversight roles at Elbit Systems UK during the relevant period. As British nationals or UK-resident directors of a UK registered company, they fall clearly within the personal jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales under the ICCA.

The complaint argues that there is now sufficient credible information about these offences having been committed in Gaza, and about the potential contribution of UK based executives, to justify the opening of a formal SO15 investigation using the specialist powers available under the ICCA and domestic criminal law.

PILC said:

Our client has watched from the UK as her community in Gaza was destroyed. She has witnessed her loved ones and countless others subjected to mass killings, displacement, starvation, and devastation on an unimaginable scale.

The complaint submitted on her behalf today to the Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit highlights the role of UK companies and their directors in acts that constitute war crimes and genocide.

Whether the Met chooses to investigate this complaint will show whether the ICC Act 2001 is worth the paper it’s written on. A proper investigation, using all powers to obtain evidence and determining whether prosecutions are possible, is the bare minimum required of a state that purports to respect international law and the Genocide Convention.

CAAT said:

Israel’s genocide in Gaza would not be possible without Elbit Systems. Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest arms producer, and Israel is the single largest market for Elbit’s products. It provides 85% of the combat drones used by the Israeli military.

Responsibility for the immeasurable horror and suffering that has been inflicted upon the people of Gaza lies not only with the Israeli regime, but with a globally sanctioned system of militarised corporatism that facilitates – if not outright encourages – impunity for the most serious violations of international law.

Individuals directing this profit-making arms company and its subsidiaries, including Elbit Systems UK, must be held accountable for their role in perpetrating and facilitating war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Featured image via the Canary