"The system is morally, legally, and politically bankrupt".

16 May 2025, GLAN lawyer, Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe and Gearóid Ó Cuinn, Founder and Director of GLAN delivered statements outside the High Court of Justice ahead of the final day of our arms case hearing.

Charlotte Andrews-Briscoe said:

We are now entering the fourth and final day of this landmark hearing — Al-Haq v. the Secretary of State for Business and Trade— a case that asks a simple but urgent question: should Britain continue to arm a state accused of committing unspeakable atrocities? 

As we’ve sat in court this week, Gaza has descended to yet deeper horrors. 

Since Israel tightened its siege on March 1st, the World Health Organization reported that at least 57 children have starved to death. In plain sight of the world. While we’ve been arguing points of law, over 200 people have been killed in Israeli attacks. This is a week of shame. 

And here in the UK, we have witnessed a different kind of degradation. We have seen how far this government is willing to bend — to obscure, to excuse — in order to justify the continued supply of weapons to Israel. 

There are three things you should know. 

First, the Government wants to have it both ways. In Parliament this week, ministers claimed it is for the courts to decide whether Britain is complying with its legal obligations. Yet in this very courtroom, their lawyers argued the opposite — that such matters are not for the judiciary to examine. So which is it? We say: if not Parliament, and if not the courts, then who does this government answer to? 

Second, the Government showcased what it claims is a rigorous process — a review of whether Israel is breaching international law. But what we saw instead was a methodology riddled with blind spots, evasions, and failures. By September 2024, Israel had killed 40,000 Palestinians and launched over 10,000 airstrikes on Gaza. The UK government examined just 413 of these incidents — and of those it found only one possible violation of international law. 

And what was that one exception? The drone attack that killed foreign aid workers from the World Central Kitchen. When international workers were killed, the alarm was finally sounded. But when it is Palestinians — children, medics, entire families — the system remains silent. This is a calculated blindness to Palestinian life. 

Third, the UK Government has failed to disclose key documents, one chillingly titled “Research Report: Long-Range Shootings or Shootings of Minors.” We have never seen it. And yet the Government claims — in the face of mounting evidence — that it sees “no evidence of deliberate targeting of women and children”, and therefore it assesses that there is no serious risk of genocide. 

Gearóid Ó Cuinn followed by saying:

When at least 52,000 people have been killed, including over 18,000 children, when 1.9 million people are displaced, when doctors are forced to amputate without anaesthetic, and torture is routine — if weapons are still flowing, then the system is not failing. It is functioning exactly as designed. We assert that the system is morally, legally, and politically bankrupt— and it is making Britain complicit in the most serious of crimes. 

This case has already lasted 19 cruel months. A final decision may take many more. But we cannot wait for justice to arrive on such an inhumane timetable. For many, it will come far too late. 

Today we are joined by healthcare professionals who’ve been on the ground in Gaza — who saw with their own eyes what happens when weapons become policy. They will speak now and read from witness statements the UK Government was given — and chose to ignore. They are the epitome of what it means to value human life. To value Palestinian lives. 

Let us listen. Let us remember. And let us act.