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Video: Gaza Tribunal – Starmer govt blocked release of RAF footage of Israel’s murder of UK aid workers
UK media are covering up British spy flights for Israel
https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-media-are-covering-up-british-spy-flights-for-israel
Britain’s obedient defence correspondents are refusing to report a story of clear public interest in the middle of a genocide.
Published in collaboration with The National
Britain’s mainstream media have not carried out a single investigation into the extent, impact or legal status of the more than 500 surveillance flights over Gaza that the RAF has carried out since December 2023.
The Ministry of Defence continues to insist that the operations, carried out by Shadow R1 aircraft based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, are designed purely to assist with the discovery of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October 2023.
It appears that Britain’s obedient defence correspondents have no appetite to challenge this or even to raise the slightest concern about the legal or ethical implications of providing intelligence support to Israel in the middle of a genocide.
Yet thanks to dogged work by campaigners, independent journalists and pro-Palestine MPs, we know both that the flights are continuing to operate (as they did even throughout the ceasefire) and that spikes in the number of flights have coincided with especially deadly Israeli attacks on Gaza.
The lack of curiosity on the part of mainstream media is perhaps not surprising but it is deeply troubling.
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Out of 993 stories on the “defence review” in UK media on 2 June, a tiny handful took the time even to acknowledge the existence of significant public opposition to increases in defence spending, particularly at the expense of cuts to public services.
The vast majority of published criticism of Labour’s defence plans come from the Tories or military voices arguing that “this is too little, too late” or that it isn’t clear where the money will come from. There is, apparently, no space for hard news content that investigates whether increased defence spending is either effective nor necessary.
Meanwhile, the mainstream media’s continuing silence on RAF spy flights over Gaza is a flagrant abdication of their stated responsibility to ask tough questions of military planners.
Far from holding power to account, mainstream media – through their silence and meekness – are allowing the government to get away with murder in Gaza.
See the original article at https://www.declassifieduk.org/uk-media-are-covering-up-british-spy-flights-for-israel
Dystopia UK: Genocidal RAF Squadron Targeted by Palestine Action is Owned by a Hedge Fund
If you thought RAF jets were owned by the RAF, think again.
The RAF squadron targeted for a repaint by Palestine Action due to its involvement in supplying Israel’s genocide, does not in fact belong to the RAF at all. It belongs ultimately to Polygon Global Partners LLP, a Hedge Fund.
Through a chain of seven cutout companies, which I will take you through, the direct ownership is with Airtanker Ltd, which gives its address as RAF Brize Norton. It owns, maintains and operates the RAF’s Voyager refuelling aircraft, which have been providing mid-air refuelling to the Israeli Defence Forces as well as carrying, in their cargo role, munitions to the IDF.
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Airtanker Ltd states that five of the Voyager aircraft while available to the RAF: “can also be made available to other parties. This can include providing military capability to other nations…”.
Whether the aircraft have been operated by the RAF on behalf of the Israelis, or whether they have been “provided to” the IDF direct, is an interesting question. Is this designed to build in plausible deniability for the UK government?
Eight of the Voyager Aircraft though fully painted in RAF livery, actually are the property of Airtanker Ltd.
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The RAF’s Voyager aircraft are effectively being provided under the Private Finance Initiative. Exactly how much money the hedge fund managers and this string of companies are taking out of the defence budget is hard to know.
One particularly surprising fact is that it is plain that the private companies are also providing the RAF ground crew. Who employs the flight crews is not entirely clear.
That such an obviously rotten and corrupt arrangement exists in the RAF I had no idea. Some British military personnel are in fact contracted mercenaries. It gives new context to the active RAF involvement in the Genocide in Gaza.
Palestine Action’s excellent act of resistance in vandalising this Hedge Fund Air Force has brought all of this to our attention. Which is yet a further reason to be grateful to Palestine Action.