Rishi Sunak (Picture: Number 10 on Flickr)
Rishi Sunak’s Tories are leading the charge with full support for Israel and the brutalisation of Palestinians.
Sunak said the intention behind backing of Israel was to “support efforts to ensure regional stability and prevent further escalation”. That means putting down any possible revolts or revolutions that could rip apart imperialism.
The Tories sent military support to Israel with surveillance aircraft, two Royal Navy support ships and 100 Royal Marines based in the eastern Mediterranean since Friday.
The British naval task force is smaller than the US’s, which is sending the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford and a cruiser with four destroyers.
British military units and fighter aircrafts at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus are also on alert in preparation for Israel’s ground assault.
And the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Lyme Bay, a logistics support vessel and RFA Rugs, an emergency medical ship will also be stationed in the Mediterranean.
Britain has two warships in the region—HMS Duncan tasked to Nato and HMS Lancaster as part of Britain’s permanent presence in the Persian Gulf.
The Tories’ escalation of Britain’s military presence to support Israel shows their dedication to imperialism. Asked whether he would send support “regardless of what Israel does,” Sunak replied that Hamas’ “barbarity” “is unequivocally wrong and there is no moral ambiguity about that.”
Sunak is happy to not just ignore the suffering of Palestinians but contribute to it.
Meanwhile deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden wrote in the Telegraph newspaper that the Tories support Israel’s bombing—including of schools and hospitals.
“Our support towards Israel must not dissipate when the reality of fighting an enemy that hides in tunnels and amongst civilian homes, schools and hospitals takes shape,” he wrote.
“The test is not of our words but our actions.”
Dowden said that support for Israel “must not dissipate”. He also claimed that Jewish people are left without “safe spaces” due to “aggressive pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli demonstrations.”
This is an intentional demonisation of the protests that have supported Palestinian resistance and rage at Zionism and imperialism—and that have included many Jewish people.
With the Tories set on escalating horrors against Palestinians, activists in Britain must keep the Tories at the centre of their outrage.
Israeli airstrikes have killed 11 journalists and wounded 20 others since the war began, the Palestinian Journalists’ Syndicate said on Monday.
The syndicate said that the offices of 50 local and international media organisations had been targeted, including Al-Jazeera, AFP, Ma’an News Agency and Al-Quds newspaper. Two Palestinian journalists in Gaza are currently missing.
In the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, scores of journalists have been detained, beaten and prevented from covering events, the syndicate added.
It stressed that the continued interruption of electricity and the Internet in the Gaza Strip limited the ability of journalists to continue their coverage of the Israeli aggression.
Racist hatred of Palestinians is already claiming victims outside of the Middle East. Police in the US have charged a man with murder for fatally stabbing a six year old boy and seriously wounding his 32 year old mother.
He is alleged to have singled out the victims because of their religion and in response to the war in Palestine. Officers found both victims last Saturday at a home, 40 miles southwest of Chicago.
The boy was stabbed 26 times with a large military‑style knife. His mother had more than a dozen stab wounds but is expected to survive.
While politicians on both side of the Atlantic are keen to talk up threats to Jewish communities, almost none speaks up to demand protection for Muslims.
The Tories last week handed £3 million to the Community Security Trust (CST) that “helps protect Jewish community sites”. But the CST is far simply a safety organisation. It lobbies for support for Israel and slurs Palestinians.
In 2021 it tweeted, “The chant ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free’ was ubiquitous in anti-Israel protests in the UK. But did you know it’s a slogan used by Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein?”
Rishi Sunak and home secretary Suella Braverman talk of “protecting the Jewish community”. It sets up an image of violent, antisemitic Arabs on the rampage. And it treats all Jews as pro-Israel anti-Palestinians.
In fact, many British Jews are very uneasy about what Israel is doing and support Palestinian rights. Some are fully behind the Palestinians and are anti-Zionists. The biggest threat to Jews and other racialised groups is the racist words and policies from Sunak and Braverman.
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