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Tag: UK

  • UK complicity in Israel’s Gaza genocide

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    I’ve been trying to investigate the UK’s complicity in Israel’s Gaza genocide. There is no doubt that UK is complicit in genocide by supporting Israel’s Gaza genocide but the actual details are a little obscured. I’ve found that Declassified UK is a good source about the UK’s military support of Israel.

    British military training Israeli officers in UK amid Gaza war

    The UK announced that it is providing training to Israeli military officers in the country as the war on Gaza nears its 5-month mark with over 100,000 Palestinians recorded killed and injured.

    “Israel is represented by Armed Forces personnel in its Embassy in the UK, and as participants in UK defence-led training courses”, British Defense Minister James Heappey has told parliament.

    “There are currently six Israeli Armed Forces officers posted in the UK”, he added responding to a written question by Alba MP Kenny MacAskill.

    …

    The UK provides arms and military components for Israel’s armed forces

    BRITAIN SECRETLY SENT 500 EXTRA TROOPS TO CYPRUS BASE BEING USED TO SUPPLY WEAPONS TO ISRAEL

    The UK has also deployed additional military personnel to Egypt, Israel and Lebanon since the Gaza bombing began, but refuses to say at what levels.

    • New troops take number of UK personnel on Britain’s Cyprus bases to nearly 3,000
    • Figure does not include SAS personnel deployed to island for Gaza operations
    • Secret detachment of 129 American airmen are also deployed on UK territory on Cyprus
    • Number of new UK troops deployed elsewhere in Middle East will remain secret “for operational security reasons”, government says
    • British MP demands “openness and accountability” on role UK bases on Cyprus are playing in Israel’s bombing of Gaza

    Britain secretly deployed 500 additional troops to its bases on Cyprus after Israel began bombing Gaza, it can be revealed.

    The UK government has said previously that it deployed 1,000 troops to the East Mediterranean to support Israel but it did not reveal how these troops were distributed.

    But in a letter to Alba MP Kenny MacAskill, seen by Declassified, defence minister James Heappey wrote that on 27 November half these troops were in Cyprus.

    …

    UK ADMITS NINE ISRAELI MILITARY PLANES HAVE VISITED BRITAIN SINCE GAZA BOMBING BEGAN.

    …

    RAF flights to Israel

    The MoD also admitted on Tuesday that it has flown close to 50 RAF operated aircraft to Israel since it began bombing Gaza.

    The department told parliament: “As of 2 February 2024, a total of 48 RAF operated aircraft have flown to Israel since 7 October 2023.”

    It added: “These flights included aircraft used to transport Ministers and senior officials conducting diplomatic engagements with Israel.”

    Declassified could find no similar flights in the two months before the Gaza campaign began. 

    The majority of these flights are vast C-17 and A400 military transport aircraft which have gone from RAF Akrotiri, the sprawling British air base on Cyprus, to Tel Aviv.

    The UK government claims the dozens of flights have “provided no lethal or military equipment other than medical supplies to Israel”.

    But it is possible the US and Israel are using bases in Britain to move weapons to Israel. 

    …

    UK military aircraft have provided “surveillance support” to Israel

    The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has stated that UK military aircraft have provided surveillance support to Israel, following the deployment of assets to the eastern Mediterranean amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

    In written parliamentary responses confirming the deployments on 13 November, MoD officials stated the UK had deployed “P-8 and other surveillance assets to improve our situational awareness in the region and provide assurance to our partners”.

    Israel has been embroiled in an ongoing war with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and which conducted a bloody incursion into Israel on 7 October resulting in the deaths of some 1,200 Israeli’s, with over 200 kidnapped. The military response from Israel into Gaza has caused over 10,000 civilian deaths, according to Hamas-run Gazan authorities.

    On 13 October, the UK confirmed it would be sending aircraft to the region to “support Israel and reinforce regional stability”.

    …

    BRITAIN HAS FLOWN 50 SPY MISSIONS OVER GAZA IN SUPPORT OF ISRAEL

    The UK military refuses to tell Declassified what intelligence it is sharing with Israel as we reveal the extraordinary number of surveillance flights Britain is undertaking over Gaza from its base on Cyprus.

    …

    The UK military has flown 50 surveillance missions over Gaza since December, it can be revealed.

    The flights have taken off from Britain’s controversial air base on Cyprus, RAF Akrotiri, and averaged around one a day since the beginning of December. 

    When asked the UK government refused to provide the number of spy flights, but Declassified has analysed flight tracking records.

    The British plane used is the Shadow R1, which is known as an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) aircraft.

    The Shadow R1 is operated by the UK military’s No.14 Squadron, which is based at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, east England. 

    …

    The British flights began on 3 December when two R1s flew over Gaza. The flights have continued nearly daily up until now, with around half the days featuring two flights. On 3 January, the British sent an R1 over Gaza three times. 

    The flights appear to last around six hours. 

    Intelligence

    The UK Ministry of Defence announced on 2 December that it would begin surveillance flights over Gaza “in support of the ongoing hostage rescue activity”. 

    “The safety of British nationals is our utmost priority,” the department said. “Surveillance aircraft will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages”. 

    It added: “Only information relating to hostage rescue will be passed to the relevant authorities responsible for hostage rescue.”

    But the extraordinary number of flights, and the fact that they started nearly two months after the hostages were taken, raises suspicions that the UK is not collecting intelligence solely for this purpose. 

    Foreign secretary David Cameron confirmed last week that Hamas holds just two British hostages. 

    …

  • Greens call for scaling up actions against Israel, accusing UK government of complicity in killing 

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    Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
    Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

    As Israel appears to be on the brink of an all out assault on Rafah, despite warnings against such action by the UN, Red Crescent and others, Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer is demanding the UK scale up actions against the Israeli government until the killing stops. Greens are calling for an end to all arms sales to Israel, prosecutions of war criminals and targeted sanctions on Israel’s leaders. 

    Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: 

    “It is clear that the Israeli government is refusing to heed warnings about the catastrophic implications of an all-out attack on Rafah. The UK government must now demand that Israel stop the killing, calling for an immediate ceasefire. Hamas must also agree to this ceasefire of course, and release all hostages.  

    “Decisions made by the UK government – above all its failure, month after month, to call for an immediate ceasefire – have made them complicit in the killing of almost 28,000 people to date, 12,000 of whom are children.

    “Israel relies on certain weapon parts manufactured in the UK, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter whose essential components are made here.

    A Dutch court has today ordered the state to cease the export of F-35 spare parts to Israel. We call on the UK government to follow suit, and suspend all arms export licences to Israel until the killing stops. The UK must also cease all military collaboration with Israel, including allowing Israeli use of British bases and RAF intelligence flights over Gaza.

    “Greens would also implement the requirements of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign across the UK economy. This would include excluding Israel from international sporting and music events; withdrawing all public money from funds with investments in Israel; and ending beneficial trade arrangements with Israel.

    “It is clear that only outside pressure will make Israel stop its mass killing. We can increase the pressure on Israeli leaders by introducing targeted sanctions against key individuals. This would include travel bans and asset freezes on Israel’s leadership and cabinet members, in particular those calling for new settlements in Gaza and the annexation of the West Bank. 

    “Finally, we would encourage UK authorities including the Metropolitan Police and Director of Public Prosecutions to pursue perpetrators of war crimes committed where UK citizens are the victims or where UK citizens are potential perpetrators. 

    “There are many steps the UK government could take to pressure Israel to stop the killing. Its refusal to do so means that they are implicitly condoning the appalling carnage in Gaza.” 

  • Peter Oborne EXPOSES Israel’s Dodgy Dossier on UNRWA

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  • South Africa to file legal action with ICJ against UK, US, for war crime complicity

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    Article republished from the Skwawkbox

    South Africa’s legal team at the ICJ last month

    Nation whose case put Israel formally on trial for genocide joins Nicaragua in turning its sights on accomplices in genocide

    A team of almost fifty South African lawyers is preparing a legal case to bring to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations’ top court, against the US and UK, for their complicity in Israel’s array of war crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

    South Africa’s successful ICJ case against Israel last month led to Israel being put formally on trial for genocide and resulted in a string of binding orders on Israel to stop its slaughter of Gazans and even to protect Palestinians from harm, as well as to ensure adequate aid reaches the strip’s 2.5 million people, many of whom are now starving and homeless.

    Israel has flouted the rulings, continuing and even intensifying the mass murder and blockade, and is being supported in its flagrant disregard for international law by the UK and US, who are providing both material and financial aid, and giving political cover by refusing to condemn Israel’s actions or to call its crimes what they are, instead casting doubt on the mass deaths and brutality and denigrating the Court’s ruling.

    South Africa joins Nicaragua in taking action against the UK and US. The Central American nation has also filed a case against Germany, Canada and the Netherlands.

    The team of lawyers, which already numbers around fifty, is likely to grow further as more lawyers are set to join from other nations. Wikus van Rensburg, who is leading the action, said that it was time for the US and other complicit nations to “be held responsible for [their] crimes”.

    Article republished from the Skwawkbox

  • North Sea oil and gas assets a risky bet for private equity, think tank warns 

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    North Sea oil rigs in Cromarty Firth, Scotland. Credit: joiseyshowaa (CC BY-SA 2.0)
    North Sea oil rigs in Cromarty Firth, Scotland. Credit: joiseyshowaa (CC BY-SA 2.0)

    https://www.energymonitor.ai/finance/corporate-strategy/north-sea-oil-and-gas-assets-a-risky-bet-for-private-equity-think-tank-warns/?cf-view&cf-closed

    North Sea oil and gas production is expected to plummet in the coming years, as renewables become increasingly competitive. Now, a new report by the think tank Carbon Tracker argues that private equity companies invested in North Sea (UK and Norway) oil and gas assets are particularly vulnerable to losses as demand falls. Private equity’s presence in the North Sea has grown steadily since the 2014 oil price crash. 

    In 2010, just 8% of North Sea assets were held by private companies, with the remainder owned by publicly listed oil majors and state-owned utilities. Currently, 29.7% of North Sea equity licences are held by current or former private equity-backed ventures, according to recent analysis from the Common Wealth think tank. 

    Carbon Tracker argues that while all upstream investors risk being saddled with stranded assets as demand for hydrocarbons falls, private equity companies are particularly vulnerable. For starters, the private equity industry is already facing “serious headwinds” as the low interest rate environment that “buoyed private markets” for the last decade “has, at least temporarily, come to an end”. 

    …

    https://www.energymonitor.ai/finance/corporate-strategy/north-sea-oil-and-gas-assets-a-risky-bet-for-private-equity-think-tank-warns/?cf-view&cf-closed