{"id":195060,"date":"2026-07-07T22:15:32","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T22:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/195060\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T22:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T22:15:32","slug":"israeli-arms-firm-returns-after-westminster-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/195060\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli arms firm returns after Westminster scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

RUK Advanced Systems Ltd helped fund a group of British MPs as part of a \u2018PR and marketing campaign\u2019<\/p>\n

A British weapons firm owned by the Israeli government has been brought back to life, after its lobbying activities were exposed by Declassified last year.<\/p>\n

RUK Advanced System Ltd is registered in London, but records show it is a subsidiary of Israel\u2019s state owned arms giant, Rafael.<\/p>\n

In October, documents were filed with Companies House to shut the business down, following our investigation. But it\u2019s now been revived \u2013 and claims to be supplying British armed forces.<\/p>\n

Last year, we revealed<\/a> how RUK pumped money into the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Defence Technology, which promised \u201copportunities to network with MPs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Our investigation triggered an inquiry by Westminster authorities, which confirmed<\/a> that parliamentary rules had been breached.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The inquiry found that the donation had been part of a \u201cPR and marketing campaign\u201d by RUK, which \u201cresulted in a foreign government temporarily part-funding\u201d the group of MPs.<\/p>\n

The APPG quickly disbanded, while RUK deleted its website. Documents were later filed for the company to shut down<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the application has since been withdrawn and RUK\u2019s website has now re-appeared.<\/p>\n

Labour MP John Trickett told Declassified: \u201cIt is extremely concerning that a company owned by a foreign government was able to fund a British parliamentary group. The Standards Commissioner was right to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cNow this company has returned, there should be full transparency about its operations in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"A Rafael display at the DSEI London arms fair in 2021. (Photo: Declassified UK)<\/p>\n

Tried and tested<\/p>\n

Products advertised include missiles with \u201cunprecedented\u201d lethality and a defence system for tanks which has been tried and tested in combat \u201calong Israel\u2019s borders\u201d.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s website says: \u201cWe deliver the most technologically sophisticated, operationally powerful, precisely-adapted, and cost-effective solutions to fill the unique combat requirements of the British MOD and Armed Forces.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, questions remain over the nature of the business and where it is based.<\/p>\n

RUK says its products are \u201cmade in the UK\u201d and submitted evidence to Parliament last year describing itself as \u201ca UK manufacturer\u201d.<\/p>\n

But our investigation last year found no evidence that the company had any manufacturing facilities in the UK.<\/p>\n

The address given in official company documents is a service address, with no RUK staff present. And when we eventually tracked the company to a tiny building on a technology park in Farnborough, it appeared to simply be a small office.<\/p>\n

The latest financial accounts, from 2024, show that it only employed five people at that stage \u2013 and at least some of these individuals have since left the company.<\/p>\n

Searches of LinkedIn have failed to identify any current employees at all, except for the director, Yoram Aldo Aron.<\/p>\n

Neither Aron, nor Rafael, responded to Declassified\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RUK Advanced Systems Ltd helped fund a group of British MPs as part of a \u2018PR and marketing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195061,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[37,498,11988,57917],"class_list":["post-195060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-israel","tag-palestine","tag-rafael","tag-ruk"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116881006968600227","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195060"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195060\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}