Rishi Sunak has announced that Royal Navy vessels and surveillance aircraft are being sent to the eastern Mediterranean to support Israel.
All UK political parties were rightly swift to condemn the wanton killings, going far beyond military targets, of al-Qassam Brigades last Sunday. But both Labour and Conservatives have gone too far in unreservedly aligning themselves with the Netanyahu government.
Sunak has gone further and fallen in behind America in sending in the sort of heavy weaponry intended for deployment against a hostile nation state. Granted. the surveillance aircraft will be of use in fighting terrorism and they have to be based somewhere. However, the rest of the fleet gives the impression of being ready to join in the bombing and shelling of what's left of housing, hospitals and schools in the overcrowded Gaza strip. Hamas is already portraying us as part of the world ranged against Palestinians.
If the moral argument for standing back from the fray and condemning the violence on both sides carries no weight with this administration, then Sunak and Braverman should consider the electoral implication (as should Starmer). Biden and Blinken want to continue the support of the Jewish lobby in the US, which they fear may swing behind Trump if they appear "soft". (Though one wonders if the ordinary American of Jewish heritage approves of the genocide which Netanyahu appears ready to accelerate.) Other considerations apply here. Observant Judaism is a fraction of its Muslim equivalent and there are many businesses, large and small, which are in Muslim hands. Christians, too, will be appalled at the peril of Gaza's inhabitants - among whom will be many Christians, by the way.
Sunak has, in allying himself with the Democrats in America and the even more Islamophobic Modi in India, lowered the world standing of the United Kingdom, We have created enemies where we need not. They may not present any military danger to these islands, but we may need their votes in the UN. We also have commercial interests abroad which may now be in jeopardy. There are now few situations in which we can be seen as honest brokers.
It is reassuring to see the balanced people-centred comments from Layla Moran, Liberal Democrat shadow minister. She concludes her Huffington Post article:
Liberal Democrats stand in solidarity with the Jewish community - in the UK, in Israel and around the world - who feel fear and grief. We utterly condemn the antisemitic incidents in the UK which have tragically already increased following this awful violence. Israel has, without question, a right in international law to defend its territory and its citizens. We fully support that right. It is vital that it is terrorists who are targeted, not civilians, in line with international humanitarian law.
Many innocent Palestinian civilians have also tragically perished. Our hearts go out to those individuals, and their families, and those in the UK with ties there.
As the first British-Palestinian MP in the House of Commons, I know that many in the Palestinian community are scared, like my family. I and my colleagues are concerned that essential supplies - water, food, electricity - have been cut off to the 2.2 million residents of the Gaza strip.
We echo the calls of the UN Secretary General, that entry of supplies must be facilitated into Gaza - and it’s vital that the UK government makes humanitarian aid available. The Secretary General has stressed the importance of “strict accordance with international humanitarian law”.
I have never been to Gaza myself, but last year I visited an East Jerusalem hospital ward full of prematurely born babies on incubators, babies whose parents were from Gaza. They were taken to be born in East Jerusalem because Gaza does not have the appropriate health infrastructure. But what will happen now in such cases, when civilians cannot leave Gaza, and two hospitals there have already been destroyed?
The people of Israel and Palestine have a right to live free from fear. When I have visited, I have seen for myself their creativity, positivity and enterprise. This needs to be nurtured and allowed to flourish.
Further, the UK and its partners in the international community cannot allow a return to the status quo. If we are intent on helping to bring the violence to an end once and for all, then it is for countries like ours, which has longstanding ties to the region and is deeply implicated in the origins of this conflict, to take a leading role in bringing about lasting peace and a two state solution. It is vital that the UK Government does so at this crucial moment.
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