Speaking after the government has suspended around 30 arms export licences to Israel, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband affirmed Israel's right to self-defence but stressed it must comply with international law. He backed the foreign secretary's decision, saying the government's commitment is to ensure that all nations, including Israel, adhere to legal standards in their actions. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00We've always said and we believe that Israel has an absolute right to defend itself but
00:07within international law.
00:10And the Foreign Secretary took advice, as he said he would, on whether there was a risk
00:16that British arms sales would be used in breach of international law.
00:22That's why he made the decision he did to ban the export of some arms to Israel.
00:30I think people across Britain will think we're right to say Israel has a right to defend
00:34itself.
00:36We are also right, as a government, to say that all countries we deal with must uphold
00:42international law and that's the position that we've taken.