SENDING more RAF jets to the Middle East underlines Britain’s involvement in Israel’s escalating aggression in the region.
Missile exchanges between Israel and Iran are intensifying. Chancellor Rachel Reeves insists Britain is not involved: we are sending planes as a “precaution” to protect our “assets” (our regional military bases).
But why might these be under threat? Iran says it has evidence of U.S. involvement in Israel’s unprovoked attack on it last week. It has warned that U.S., British and French bases involved in Israel’s attacks could be deemed legitimate targets.
Reeves does not rule out direct engagement. On the side of the aggressor, of course:
We have, in the past, supported Israel when there have been missiles coming in. I’m not going to comment on what might happen in the future… we’re sending in assets to both protect ourselves and also potentially to support our allies.
Dubbing the nature of such support “defensive” because it might consist of helping shoot down Iranian missiles headed for Israel makes a mockery of the term. Israel has attacked Iran, and Britain has done nothing to try to intercept its barrage of missiles in the other direction, any more than it has used its “assets” in the region to stop Israel raining death on Gaza for 20 horrendous months.
Quite the opposite. Britain’s Akrotiri base on Cyprus has been instrumental to the Gaza genocide. It has been a base for RAF surveillance flights that pass intelligence to the Israeli Defence Forces. It has been a staging post for U.S. supplies.
Britain’s claims not to be directly involved in the war against Palestine, and even to be in favour of a ceasefire, are transparently false. So why should Iran believe that Britain is not involved in the latest attacks? Our military works hand in glove with Tel Aviv’s, is even currently training Israeli soldiers, despite the overwhelming evidence of its war crimes.
As with Palestine, Reeves’s admission that any British intervention would be to assist Israel underlines a crucial point for the labour movement here, divided as it is on Labour’s plans to increase military spending.
Britain is not a benign power, using its armed forces to defend itself or victims of attacks by others.
It is an aggressor: one which has, since the end of the cold war, joined U.S.-led coalitions to dismember Yugoslavia, invade and brutally occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, and destroy Libya as a functioning state–besides deploying its military in support roles for the murderous Saudi war on Yemen.
As this newspaper’s political reporter Andrew Murray argued at the weekend’s Morning Star conference, its role as Washington’s lieutenant becomes still more sinister now the United States is ruled by a far-right demagogue, currently threatening to “slaughter” Iranians if their government does not submit to his wishes and whose global agenda is a confrontation with China that could ignite a new world war.
Everywhere we see the descent into militarism: from the unprecedented parade of tanks and troops through Washington for Donald Trump’s birthday to Germany holding its first Veterans Day since the second world war, breaking an 80-year taboo on celebrating the army in the country responsible for the worst war crimes in history.
The Israel-Iran war could widen. Our urgent priority is to build a peace movement capable of changing Britain from an international warmonger to a force for conflict resolution, and one that recognises, in the words this weekend of Israeli communist Ofer Cassif–currently suspended from the Knesset for denouncing genocide:
There is no legitimacy for targeting civilians whatsoever. Not in Tehran nor in Tel Aviv, not in Gaza nor in Sderot.
Enough with this madness! There is only one absolute victory for all peoples: peace. And peace will never be with occupation, genocide or ethnic cleansing. Embark on the path of peace immediately–it is necessary, and it is possible.