The adequacy of the UK’s military support for Israel was a key topic of debate in the House of Commons today.
Andrew Bridgen, MP for North West Leicestershire, questioned the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Leo Docherty, on the current state of UK-Israel defence relations.
Docherty reaffirmed the longstanding defence relationship between the UK and Israel, noting the UK-Israel defence cooperation agreement signed in December 2020.
“The UK and Israel have a long-standing defence relationship, as we have discussed already this morning. Israel is a partner in the region, and a UK-Israel defence co-operation agreement was signed in December 2020,” Docherty stated.
Bridgen raised concerns about the nature of the UK’s support, distinguishing between defensive actions against missile attacks and Israel’s interventions in Gaza. He asked how the government plans to address this complex issue.
“I thank the Minister for that answer. The problem of unconditional UK military support for Israel is that while the majority of this House and of the British public rightly support our intervention to help protect Israel from missile attacks from third countries, it is a different story when it comes to its intervention and aggression in Gaza. How will His Majesty’s Government’s policy aim to sort out that conundrum?” Bridgen queried.
Docherty clarified that UK support is not unconditional and emphasised the importance of protecting civilian lives. He also highlighted the UK’s efforts to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“Nothing is unconditional. The point I have made this morning is that we are supporting our ally overcome a devastating terrorist attack. We do that because it is the honourable thing to do. Simultaneously, we make the point to our ally that the protection of civilian lives must be at the top of the operational agenda. Furthermore, we use our military capability to ensure that humanitarian aid can flow into Gaza as quickly as possible,” Docherty responded.
Mark Logan, MP for Bolton North East, raised concerns about a statement from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its potential impact on UK-Israel military relations.
“In the light of the damning International Criminal Court statement today, how concerned is the Minister about the potential impact on the UK’s military relationship with Israel?” Logan asked.
Docherty dismissed the concern, asserting the UK’s confidence in the legality of its actions.
“It has no bearing. We will make our judgments about the legality of our actions on our own terms, and we are confident in that legality,” Docherty concluded.
This one is about as toxic as it gets…
‘…it is a different story when it comes to its intervention and aggression in Gaza.‘
That is, when it becomes necessary to appease some of my constituents can we have our umbrella back?
‘Mark Logan, MP for Bolton North East, raised concerns about …’
Hanging on to some of his constituents votes.
Personally I think the Government were always worried about what Israel would do if seriously attacked. In reality it is more than capable of looking after itself (not surprising after the holocaust – which made them all the more determined to be reliant on nobody). The best course of action was for the British, Americans & others to encourage restraint behind closed doors however the ‘public’ in this country (and others) have forced Governments to take an awkward position and that has enabled the Israelis to tell everyone to go f**k themselves – they are not going to be massacred… Read more »
A statement attributed to the SF community after the IRA cried foul after the SAS ‘activity’ deployed,
“Big boys games, Big boys rules”
It’s much the same in Gaza, Hamas carried out an attack of unimaginable horror, scale and outright barbarity.
The Hebrews dropped the hammer in response.
That’s war, it’s a dirty bloody savage business and civilians suffer.
You want to end the war, then Hamas need to unconditionally surrender, it’s that simple.
The middle east is one of those conflicts where it is difficult to see a resolution. Yet I think we said that about NI.
In theory if HAMAS ceased to exist then now is an opportunity for the world (not just the UK) to come in and put gaza back on it’s feet.
Might work although there are certain vested interests who seem to want the conflict to continue.
I’m afraid you’re right Mark, sadly Iran will keep the bullets flying at any cost, they care not who dies, their age, race or religion….
Take out Iran and all these terror groups would fizzle out.
So we have a group of F35 countries users and manufacturers, if one country becomes a pariah it becomes a problem.
Interesting that Andrew Bridgen was rising this. Thought his main aim was to save us all from the jab!!