Israel's national shooting team has become the latest victim of the turmoil in the Middle East after Britain blocked the sale of sporting ammunition despite assurances that the cartridges have no military use.
The export ban has disrupted the Israeli squad's preparations for next month's world shooting championships in Finland.
The Department of Trade and Industry refused to grant an export licence for 350,000 rounds of the .22 calibre ammunition made by Eley of Birmingham, whose cartridges are used by most medal winners.
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In a letter, the DTI told Eley: "There is a clear risk that the ammunition might be used for internal repression, external aggression, prolonging the conflict and the risk that the goods might be diverted to an undesirable end user."
Yair Davidovich, the general secretary of the Israel Shooting Federation, said: "I am sure somebody made a mistake.
"This is not army stuff. The army has enough ammunition without our sports ammunition, which is expensive. Even for a sniper rifle, the army uses larger calibre ammunition. This sports ammunition is only effective to a range of about 100 metres."
A spokesman for Eley agreed that its ammunition was not suitable for military use.
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According to Israeli sources, the Ministry of Defence approved the export licence but it was blocked by the Foreign Office. A written appeal against the decision has been lodged by Eley, they said.
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