For the attention of xxx [pick your context-sensitive and relevant target(s): (elected officials including (where applicable) Minister of Foreign Affairs or MP],
I am writing to you in relation to the role of [name of state] in the F-35 fighter jet program to demand an end to its production of parts, assemblage, sale or purchase of F-35 fighter jets.
F-35 fighter jets are crucial for apartheid Israel to carry out its genocide against the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. The many countries involved in building and purchasing the US-produced F-35 jets are complicit in Israel’s genocide, apartheid and illegal occupation.
I add my voice to those of many in the grassroots movements, trade unions and other civil organizations that are answering the Palestinian call to escalate pressure on complicit ministries, parliaments and manufacturing companies to end [state name or company name] complicity in Israel’s use of F-35 fighter jets to carry out its genocidal campaign. This is an obligation under international law, not a matter of discretion.
In June 2024, a UN report identified F-35s, produced by Lockheed Martin, as being used in “emblematic” cases of indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on Gaza that “led to high numbers of civilian fatalities and widespread destruction of civilian objects.”
On 2 September 2024, Danish NGO Danwatch revealed that Israeli forces used an F-35 in July to drop three 2,000 lb bombs in an attack on a so-called “safe zone” in Al-Mawasi, Khan Younis, killing 90 Palestinians.
F-35s have also been used by Israel to commit grave human rights violations en-masse in the West Bank for several years, and most recently to attack other states like Qatar and Yemen. Partner states in the F-35 program have failed to uphold international law by supplying and buying from Israel and its military industry.
End-user compliance is an obligation for all producers of F-35 parts, as with all other military materiel that is used in the commission of grave human rights violations, particularly atrocity crimes.
F-35 parts are manufactured in 13 states. The components they produce are then sent to Lockheed Martin and Pratt and Whitney factories in the US and UK, where they are assembled. From there, the F-35Is, specially made for Israel, are sent to the genocidal state. Moreover, there are at least 19 states currently using F-35 fighter jets, and several states have recently signed deals to purchase them.
Every state that buys an F-35, and every state or company that produces parts for, and assembles F-35s are critical in maintaining the production of these fighter jets.
Under the Genocide Convention and the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) states have to prevent both direct and indirect transfers of military equipment and technology – including parts, components, and dual-use items – where there is an overriding risk that such equipment and technology could be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international law. Last year, in adopting the International Court of Justice’s ruling about the illegality of Israel’s entire occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, states overwhelmingly voted for UN General Assembly Resolution A/ES-10/L.31 demanding that states “Take steps towards ceasing [...] the provision or transfer of arms, munitions and related equipment to Israel, the occupying Power, in all cases where there are reasonable grounds to suspect that they may be used in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
[name of state or company name] must respect its legal obligations and completely end its complicity in the F-35 program’s aspects related to Israel. This means:
- Companies and States supplying components for F-35s stop selling these parts to companies assembling or maintaining the jets until they can ensure no components end up in Israel’s F-35 jets and Israel is entirely excluded from the F-35 project.
- Companies and States assembling F-35s stop selling these jets to Israel.
- States stop buying F-35s if they cannot ensure they don’t include any Israeli-made components.
Signed,
[Your name]