UK’s Starmer says UK stands ‘firm with Israel’
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer reiterates that Israel had the right to security and to defend itself, when asked about the prospect of Israel retaliating against Iran and the potential role of British forces in any related military action.
“I think it’s very clear that we stand firm with Israel,” Starmer said in response to a question at a news conference in Brussels.
“Israel does have the right to security. Israel does have the right to defend herself, and that is absolutely clear. I’m not going to get drawn further than that, nor get drawn on the role of our own service personnel,” he added.
Nor get drawn into what constitutes self-defense. Does it include killing thousands of civilians and displacing millions? Does it include torture.
https://www.declassifieduk.org/raf-spy-flights-over-gaza-risk-complicity-in-israeli-torture/
Royal Air Force (RAF) surveillance flights continue almost daily over Gaza to help Israel locate hostages held by Hamas. Campaigners fear the flight paths may be informed by intelligence Israel obtained through torture.
US seeks to align ‘return message’ to Iran with Israel, top US diplomat says
US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell says the Biden administration is seeking to align its position with Israel on any potential response to Iran’s attack but also recognises the Middle East is on a “knife’s edge” and a broader escalation could imperil both Israeli and US interests.
Speaking at a virtual event hosted by Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment, Campbell repeated the US view that what Tehran has undertaken was “deeply irresponsible” and that there must be a “return message.”
“I think we recognise, as important as a response of some kind should be, there is a recognition that the region is really balancing on a knife’s edge, and real concerns about an even broader escalation or a continuing one, not just simply an exchange of sort of isolated salvoes, but of more sustained hostility, which could imperil not just Israel, but our strategic interests, as well,” Campbell said.
The attacks from Lebanon into Israel have been “destabilising,” Campbell said, while issuing a warning about sustained conflict with Lebanon.
“I think we tried to underscore our support for some of the actions that Israel has taken. I think we have real wariness about a extended or substantial ground set of operations in Lebanon,” Campbell said.
What about de-escalation, Gaza ceasefire, end of genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, 2-state solution (however impossible that seems now)
The US continues to deflect from the root cause of all the current escalations.
Biden to discuss Israel’s response with Netanyahu
President Biden said he does not support strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites in response to its missile attack against Israel. Earlier, “Biden joined a call with the G7 to discuss Iran’s attack … and to coordinate on a response … including new sanctions,” according to a readout of the meeting.
Biden also told reporters that “we’ll be discussing with the Israelis what they’re going to do, but all seven of us [G7 nations] agree that they have a right to respond but the response but they should respond proportionally.”
The G7 includes the US, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and the UK.
Ex US defence official says ‘Netanyahu does not have to respond overwhelmingly’
While Iran’s missile attack on Israel yesterday was far larger than an earlier one in April, the relatively low number of casualties – one person killed, a Palestinian worker in Jericho – gives Israel an offramp to respond with restraint, Lawrence Korb, a former US Defense Department official and security analyst, told Al Jazeera.
“It means that Netanyahu does not have to respond overwhelmingly,” said Korb. “So in a way that ‘we want them to do something but not do it in such a way that provokes another attack’.
“Israel has to do something to show that they’re not going to sit passively if Iran gets in this struggle that they’re having with Hezbollah and Hamas. But since it was a minimal amount of damage … they can have a more measured response.
“The only way out of this horrible situation, which has gone on for almost a year now, is to have a negotiated settlement.”
President Joe Biden, who is not running for re-election, is now a “lame duck”, Korb said.
“We’re not sure how much influence he has. And we know Netanyahu just ignores President Biden.”
