Urgent action needed ahead of the Arms Trade Treaty Conference.

Subject: Urgent letter for States Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty

To the representatives of State Parties to the Arms Trade Treaty,

I am writing to you to endorse the statement from the BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian civil society coalition leading the global BDS movement calling on you to fulfil your legal and moral obligations as explicitly detailed in the Treaty, which member states have consistently violated.

Israel, a signatory to the Arms Trade Treaty (hereafter referred to as “the Treaty”) has been committing a genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza for over 22 months, using military supplies purchased from and transferred by/through state parties of the Treaty. By providing Israel with these weapons and other military materiel, including dual-use items, State Parties are blatantly violating the rules of the Treaty which they have legally agreed to uphold.

As a legally-binding document of the United Nations, the Treaty must be respected beyond mere rhetoric, and the State Parties’ violations of the Treaty must not be taken lightly or dealt with superficially.

Article 6.3 of the Treaty states that:

“A State Party shall not authorize any transfer of conventional arms covered under Article 2 (1) or of items covered under Article 3 or Article 4, if it has knowledge at the time of authorization that the arms or items would be used in the commission of genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, attacks directed against civilian objects or civilians protected as such, or other war crimes as defined by international agreements to which it is a Party.”

Article 7.1 states:

“If the export is not prohibited under Article 6, each exporting State Party, prior to authorization of the export of conventional arms covered under Article 2 (1) or of items covered under Article 3 or Article 4, under its jurisdiction and pursuant to its national control system, shall, in an objective and non-discriminatory manner, taking into account relevant factors, including information provided by the importing State in accordance with Article 8 (1), assess the potential that the conventional arms or items:

would contribute to or undermine peace and security;
could be used to:
1. commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law
2. commit or facilitate a serious violation of international human rights law.”

Israel is committing acts which, according to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) determination of 26 January 2024, can plausibly be defined as violating the Genocide Convention in the occupied and besieged Gaza Strip. In July 2024, the ICJ further determined that Israel’s entire presence, including military occupation and colonial settlements, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is illegal, amounts to apartheid, and must be brought to an end as rapidly as possible.

The ICJ’s determinations trigger binding obligations on Third States under international law to ensure no complicity in Israel’s genocide, illegal occupation and apartheid, and to take measures to deter, end and punish Israel’s crimes. State Parties have not only failed to take measures to deter, end and punish Israel’s crimes, but have been complicit in arming, funding, and otherwise enabling them.

As of August 2025, Israel has killed at least 62,000 Palestinians in Gaza, with tens of thousands buried under the rubble or missing. Israel has deliberately bombed hospitals, schools, residential buildings and aid centers, targeted journalists, and medical and aid workers. It has undermined peace and security in the region, committing the crime of aggression against Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Iran, killing thousands of civilians and leaving critical infrastructure, including residential buildings, destroyed. In all these crimes, Israel has used military materiel purchased from Treaty State Parties.

Thus far, the Treaty has shown itself to be little more than a piece of paper - many State Parties have openly sold conventional arms, ammunitions/munitions, parts and components to Israel, or acted as transit points, allowing these military materiel to Israel to be transferred through their sea and air ports, or provided their flags to vessels carrying prohibited items. These include ATT State Parties Germany, Hungary, the United Kingdom, Italy, and France, and ATT signatory the United States of America. Neither have the Treaty obligations been enforced on countries selling weapons to Israel, nor has any President of the Conference reprimanded or rebuked any member States for these transfers. National control systems and control lists have proven futile. Without enforcement, the Treaty is redundant.

The fact that Israel is a signatory state, making it eligible for diplomatic presence, makes a mockery of the Treaty.

As a Treaty under the United Nations Charter, its principles and purpose are based on the pursuance of international peace and security, and Treaty States commit to “respecting and ensuring respect for international humanitarian law in accordance with, inter alia, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and respecting and ensuring respect for human rights in accordance with, inter alia, the Charter of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”

Israel's record of 77 years of war crimes, crimes against humanity, including apartheid, its ongoing genocide and illegal occupation, as well as acts of aggression, must disqualify it from being a Treaty Signatory. Israel’s genocide in Gaza particular, the world’s first livestreamed genocide, undermines the very tenets of the Treaty and the entire international legal system.

It is a consensus position among Palestinian civil society and major human rights bodies, including the UN Human Rights Council and a commitment by the UN General Assembly in its resolution A/ES-10/L.31, that all military exports to Israel must be ended as a means of preventing further genocidal violence being inflicted on the Palestinian people in Gaza and everywhere else. Respect for duties under international law, deriving from, inter alia, the Genocide Convention, the Convention against Apartheid, the Geneva Conventions, the Arms Trade Treaty, are not a matter of discretion but legal obligation under international law.

I call on states to end their complicity in Israel’s genocide and:

Enforce the Treaty mechanism by effectively banning all transfer, including export, import, transit, trans-shipment and brokering, to and from Israel of arms, ammunition/munition, or their parts and components, and dual-use items.
Guarantee that national control systems are effective and that violations of the Treaty by Member States face proper sanctions and accountability measures;
Withdraw any diplomatic privileges Israel is granted as a signatory of the Treaty.

Yours sincerely,

[NAME]

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