AN ATTACK on Palestinian fishermen from Gaza in an act of piracy by the Israeli navy last Thursday (January 22), which left five of the fishermen injured, is sure to complicate any task Gordon Brown entrusts to the Royal Navy in the eastern Mediterranean. Leaks from Downing Street have alluded to the impending deployment of British naval vessels in support of the Israelis. British vessels would be expected to assist in halting the supply of weapons by sea to those who are lawfully resisting Israeli aggression in the area and the illegal occupation of Palestinians’ land. The expenditure of taxpayers’ cash on the protection of Israeli interests in war-ravaged Gaza at a time of financial turmoil is unlikely to go down well with British voters.
Britain sells arms to Israel, which has been widely condemned internationally and faces war crimes charges tabled by the United Nations for its recent attacks on civilians in Gaza. A public petition to Downing Street calling for British drive to halt arms exports to Israel collected more than 34,000 signatures before it closed on January 27.
The mission mooted for the Royal Navy involves acting against the legitimate Palestinian resistance and on the same side as the Israeli aggressors who have been using white phosphorus against babies, children and adult civilians seeking shelter in UN premises in Gaza. That would be sure to ignite new anti-Labour feeling in Britain. Foreign journalists, until recently kept at a distance from Gaza by the attackers, have confirmed the existence of smouldering lumps of white phosphorus which landed in populated areas.
Meanwhile, UN agencies appeal for an end to the Israeli blockade which keeps Gazans hungry, prevents the repair of sewage pipes destroyed by the attackers and prolongs the circulation of raw sewage in the cities.
There is a possibility that British sailors would be put in the same position as the Scottish infantry who were ordered to Camp Dogwood in support of the United States Marines who committed the atrocities against civilians in Fallujah during their 2004 attack on that city.
Meanwhile Israel, a nuclear power, is facing an investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency into reports that it used depleted uranium weapons in Gaza.
Many will remember Tony Blair’s support of Israel’s bloody invasion of Lebanon in 2007 and his backing for the continuance of European Union trade privileges to the Israelis in defiance of the conditions attaching to those privileges. This brought discredit on Labour and his departure from the premiership.
Blair received a decoration from the hands of the discredited George W. Bush in Washington this month for his part in sending troops to the illegal invasion of Iraq.
Meanwhile, senior figures in the Roman Catholic Church in Britain have been quietly critical of the decision of Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, the soon-to-retire Archbishop of Westminster, to join the Tony Blair Faith Foundation. This organisation is seen as a fast – although unsuccessful – ploy by Blair to improve his personal image which has been greatly damaged by his identification with Israel and the atrocities committed by coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hugh O’Shaughnessy
