Despite some UK officials have condemned Israel for killing so many Gazan civilians, the European country has been deeply complicit in Israel’s crimes in Gaza.
Since the war in Gaza erupted back on October 7, the Israeli military has been ceaselessly attacking Gaza and the West Bank, killing nearly 30,000 people. This scale of violence and bloodshed that is without match since the end of the Second World War, has sparked universal condemnation against Israel even by Tel Aviv’s strategic allies.
The United Kingdom is one of these Israel allies that has criticized what is happening to Gazans, with many top UK officials having demanded the Netanyahu government to stop its violence in Gaza several times since October 7. The country, for example, warned Israel on this Tuesday that its patience is running thin over the “dreadful suffering” in Gaza, where a lack of aid is leading people to die of hunger.
The UK foreign minister David Cameron, who is due to meet Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz on Wednesday, told parliament late on Tuesday that Israel’s handling of aid for Gaza, as the occupying power, raised questions over its compliance with international law. But different reports suggest that London is opposing Israel’s violence in Gaza only in words.
To read between the lines, the UK government has indeed been helping Israel’s war machine in Gaza both militarily and financially the very day the war started until today.
Several cases of UK help for Israel during Gaza War!
In early February, the UK Defense Minister James Heappey acknowledged London’s military training for Israeli officers and said to the country’s parliament that Israeli military operatives are “currently … posted in the UK to get the required military training,” both within Tel Aviv’s diplomatic mission “and as participants in UK defense-led training courses.”
A few days earlier, he had likewise admitted that nine Israeli military aircraft landed in Britain since Operation Al Aqsa Flood on 7 October last year to get required trainings in time of war.
Recent investigations by independent investigative website Declassified UK also revealed that since October 7, the UK’s Royal Air Force aircraft have flown to and from Israel dozens of times. In the same period, 65 British spy plane missions have also been launched from the UK’s military and intelligence base in Cyprus, all to help Israeli military against Gazans.
UK’s King Charles, the first to support Israel’s war on Gaza!
Only a few hours after Hamas attack on October 7, King Charles was among the first leaders who condemned Hamas and grated Israel the right to respond. Back then, he openly condemned Hamas, saying he was “profoundly distressed” and “appalled” by the “horrors inflicted” by the resistance group and its “barbaric acts of terrorism.”
The UK has also been among the few 9 countries that decided to pause future funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) amid an investigation into allegations that some UNRWA workers might have connections with Hamas and participated in the October 7 attack on Israel.
Other countries who also paused funding for the UNRWA include the United States, Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands and Finland.
