Tag: RAF

The vigils go on


88th vigil well attended. Fears of police action unfounded

August 2025

The vigils still continue in Salisbury with unflagging attendance despite the passage of time. It must be a first that a protest of this nature has carried on for such a time despite an almost complete absence of coverage by the local paper, the Salisbury Journal. It is a demonstration that many people feel outraged by the behaviour of the IDF and the use of starvation as a weapon of war. The number of those dying this way is now over a hundred and the death toll now stands at 61,000 with many thousands more buried in the rubble that is now Gaza.

Many nations – including the UK belatedly – are beginning to withdraw their support from Israel. Germany announced last week that no more arms will be sent. German commentators have called this action ‘monumental’ and one the government would have preferred not to have taken. Germany has spent decades trying to make amends for the terrible events committed by the Nazis in the Second World War. Like many other countries around the world, the disproportionate killing of civilians in Gaza and the increasing death toll from starvation is having a profound effect on public opinion.

The Knesset last week voted to take military control of the whole of Gaza in an operation due to commence in the Autumn. It is interesting looking at the values the IDF profess to have including: The IDF and our soldiers are obligated to protect human dignity. Every individual is of inherent value, regardless of their ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender or status. IDF soldiers appear to have shot 1,373 Palestinians seeking food since the 27 May. Human dignity?

There was a rare weekend meeting of the UN Security Council on 10 August to discuss Israel’s plans to occupy the whole of Gaza seen widely as a backwards step likely to lead inevitable to more death and destruction.

There seems no end to it and the only people who can end it are the Americans who are determined supporters of Netanyahu.

Palestine Action

Over the weekend there were widespread protests and many arrests of those alleged to be in support of Palestine Action, now deemed a ‘terrorist’ organisation by the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper. Over 500 were arrested. Cooper has defended her action saying people do not know the full truth about the organisation.

The human rights charity Amnesty International’s chief executive Sacha Deshmukh suggested the response to the protest was disproportionate.

He said: “We have long criticised UK terrorism law for being excessively broad and vaguely worded and a threat to freedom of expression. These arrests demonstrate that our concerns were justified.”

RAF flights

The depth of feeling about the government and its continued support for Israel is profound. People are deeply upset at seeing an entire population subjected to the brutal treatment by an extremely powerful army such as the IDF knowing that the UK is supporting them behind the scenes. The RAF continue to overfly Gaza with hundreds of sorties. Over 500 have taken place up to March this year with 215 since Keir Starmer became prime minister. The purpose of these flights is shrouded in mystery and the claim that they are to ‘help locate hostages’ is especially weak: 500+ flights and not to find one? Bit of a waste of money surely? There is no parliamentary oversight of these flights the purpose of which are obscure and troubling.

The RAF enjoys a fine reputation in the UK. Here in Salisbury – where Spitfires were manufactured in various places around the City and the airfield where they left for service is near where this is being typed – especially so. They valiantly defended the nation at the start of the war and ‘the Few’ are the stuff of legend. It is a shame therefore to see them being deployed in what appears to be shady activities in defence of the IDF.

Vigil No 88 – pictures courtesy of Peter Gloyns

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High Court to decide on arms to Israel


The appeal is to be heard on May 13

May 2025

UPDATE: 8 May. The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy was interviewed on the PM programme yesterday evening [BBC Radio 4] and made the claim, twice, that he had decided to suspend arms sales to Israel. This was not true and regrettably, he was not challenged on either occasion by the interviewer, Evan Davies. Mr Lammy should be thankful that he had such an unchallenging interview, not just on this falsehood but on a range of other matters as well.

The appeal against the government’s decision to continue to supplying Israel with arms – and in particular, components for the F-35 – will be heard in the High Court starting on May 13th. The government is in something of a bind. The actions by Israel in Gaza are widely deplored and many contend amount to a war crime and genocide. But to offend the Americans by curtailing supplies of components for the F-35 used in Gaza is almost unthinkable for the government desperate as it is to curry favour with the Americans.

The action is being brought by Al Haq a human rights organisation based in Ramallah, and Global Legal Action Network consisting of lawyers and investigators which identifies and pursues legal actions against those involved in human rights violations. They have been joined by Amnesty, Oxfam GB and Human Rights Watch.

The latest edition of Campaign Against the Arms Trade (Issue 272, Spring 2025) discusses the issue of continuing military aid to Israel. It notes that ‘even our government has been forced to admit that is assesses Israel is not committed to complying with International Humanitarian Law‘. The case will be the biggest legal test of UK exports to Israel to date. They highlight an article in the Guardian by a former Foreign Office diplomat who described continued attempts by ministers to stonewall or play down evidence of what is happening in Gaza.

Over 52,000 have now been killed in the conflict. There are now reports of 57 deaths due to malnutrition mainly of children, the sick or the elderly. No aid is allowed in including food and necessary medical supplies. This has been the case now for over 60 days. Aid agencies stocks are depleted. A gloomy picture is painted on the situation in Haaretz.

We will follow the court case with great interest.

In addition to the supply of arms, there is the question of involvement of the RAF which has carried out over 250 overflights of Gaza (Declassified says 500). The chief of defence staff, Sir Tony Radakin was asked by a reporter from Declassified whether the RAF’s activities meant they were participating in Israel’s operations in Gaza? Answer came there none. They are not alone and the article reports that backbench MPs have sought answers without success. It is disturbing that the RAF are seemingly deeply involved in what is happening.

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Vigil 71


71st vigil in Salisbury

April 2025

Fewer numbers this week partly because the events in Washington dominating the news and a number of our regulars away or ill. This week we had three sets of people variously upset with our presence. It would be difficult to summarise their arguments some of which were around the boat people, which is not an issue with Gaza at present, and another claiming we were ‘wasting our time’. Strange to relate how a peaceful protest seems to generate animosity. The government has introduced legislation to limit noisy demonstrations in certain circumstances yet here was a peaceful protest – peaceful as in silent – which upset several people.

The situation is Gaza goes from bad to worse. Over 50,000 are now dead. The Israelis have widened the buffer zone around the strip and turned it into a killing zone. The ceasefire has ended. Netanyahu was welcomed in Washington. All aid has been cut off. A UN study (11 April) has shown that the last 36 Israeli air strikes killed 1,500 all of whom were women and children.

The apparent murder of Red Crescent medical staff has continued to make waves as the false story put out by the IDF has unwound with video and other evidence emerging. A shocking feature was the attempt at cover up and hastily digging a grave and burying the 15 people.

There seems no end in sight. The UK government continues to give support to Israel openly and covertly. The RAF is flying almost daily over the region ostensibly to try and track hostages. About 250 flights have happened in the last 6 months. The question is, if they are carrying out this surveillance (officially called Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, ISR) are they not witnessing war crimes? Clearly, to spot a hostage would require sophisticated kit and it is reasonable to assume it would be capable of witnessing other events. Is this being logged and reported? As the Canadian researcher who is tracking these flights has said:

“They’re [RAF] in a warzone apparently rife with atrocities, and I think it’s very reasonable to ask if they’ve been witness to any war crimes, if they’ve incidentally collected intelligence that could reasonably believed to involve a war crime, and if so, what is their process to deal with that? If they don’t yet want to talk about what they’ve been doing for the past six months for truly operational security reasons, they already told us they would be operating there 6 months ago, they should be able to assure us their process is sound vis-a-vis unintentional intelligence collection involving/witnessing atrocities.”

These are serious questions for the UK government to answer.

Salisbury Concern for Israel Palestine

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Yemen arms ruling


Good news today that the Court of Appeal has upheld the appeal by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade who are trying to stop the British government supplying lethal weapons to the Saudis who are using them to cause terrible death and destruction in Yemen.

There will be more about this in future posts.  A previous post on this subject can be read here.

 

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Defence Secretary meets civil society groups


The Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, aims to ease the suffering of women in conflict areas.  Will action follow?

We have often posted items on this site concerning our support for, and arming of, the Saudi regime in its war in Yemen and the awful human toll that this has caused.  Thousands have died, cholera is at epidemic proportions and civil society has been catastrophically damaged.  A blockade is making matters worse.  The has been considerable evidence that UK arms have been used to attack civilian targets including schools, hospitals, weddings and funerals.  Yet we continue to aid the Saudis and the sale of weapons continues.  The Royal family is used to visit the regime and to welcome them here on a recent state visit.  The sale of weapons is so valuable that any concern at the destruction caused is effectively ignored.

In the context of the Yemen, as in many other conflicts, it is women and children who suffer often disproportionately.  The destruction of their community, the bombing of medical facilities and schools, the difficulty in acquiring food and clean water, all make life extremely difficult for them.  So it was interesting to read that the Defence Minister, Gavin Williamson, attended a meeting in London with representatives of countries experiencing conflict.  Countries included:  the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Ukraine, as well as several international action groups, were welcomed to discuss the issues faced in their countries, particularly by women.

It is noticeable that Yemen was not among them.

Mr Williamson said:

Conflict can have devastating effects for anyone caught in its path, but life can be particularly traumatic for women. They are subject to violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, and their calls for justice are often falling on deaf ears.

I am determined we do more to listen to those who are often not given a voice. It is only by understanding the situation faced by women and girls that we will be able to protect them. Ministry of Defence news story, 19 July 2018 [accessed 27 July]

It appears that most if not all the countries attending had UK-trained peace keepers deployed there.  The news story went on to claim:

The UK has already increased peacekeeping in Sudan and Somalia, has deployed four Military Gender and Protection Advisers to DRC and has established a UK centre of excellence to integrate guidelines on women, peace and security into its work.  It is also among the first countries to publish a National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security

The minister claims that he is determined to ‘do more to listen to those often not given a voice‘.  This raises the question of what happens when he is told it is your weapons which are destroying our lives.  What more does he need to be told?  There have been countless authenticated reports on the destruction our weapons (and those of USA and France) have caused in war zones like Yemen.  A Médecins sans Frontières report is another example among many.  Countless reports, evidence on the ground, news reports and footage, all graphically describe the terrible events in that country.

So the questions for Mr Williamson are – when you have read the reports and done your ‘listening’ what are you going to do?  Will you take steps to cease arming the Saudis with weapons they are using to cause such mayhem?  Will you bring home the RAF personnel who are involved in the conflict?  What in short will you do to ease the plight of women caught ‘in its path’ as you put it?  Or was this just an exercise in public relations which will have no tangible or beneficial effects on the lives of women in war zones?

Will you listen and do nothing?

If you live in the Salisbury area we would be pleased to welcome you to our group.

 

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