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Defence minister squirms about RAF Gaza spy flights ‘looking the other way’ on genocide

British RAF spy flights have been consistently recording footage over Gaza during Israel’s genocide. They’ve likely witnessed – and ignored – countless Israeli war crimes since 2023, such as the murder of UK aid workers. And in a parliamentary grilling, defence minister Luke Pollard squirmed to avoid admitting that.

British RAF Gaza spy flights

Israeli occupation forces are holding thousands of Palestinians hostage, and have killed at least 19,424 children in Gaza since 2023. Hamas is holding 48 Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Pollard insisted that UK support for Israel’s war criminals:

is solely focused on hostage rescue, using the capabilities for hostage rescue

He added:

If there were additional taskings placed on those aircraft beyond just hostage rescue, I think the ability of those aircraft to be able to deliver those activities would be more constrained. So as a result, it has been the clear policy of this government that those aircraft are only and solely used for hostage rescue, and we don’t provide any other data or collect any other data beyond hostage rescue.

In response to this, a member of the committee questioning Pollard said:

You’re looking the other way.

And that is very much what’s been happening. The spy flights from RAF Akrotiri over Gaza have continued to support Israel despite the apartheid state committing genocide in the very same territory they’re monitoring.

Committee members questioned Pollard about whether flight data could help Britain to determine where breaches of International Humanitarian Law have occurred. But he essentially admitted that, because Israel doesn’t want this to happen, it doesn’t happen:

the ability of the, er, RAF aircraft or the contracted aircraft to operate, er, is entirely reliant on the permissions given by nations in the area. If the tasking of those aircraft were to go beyond hostage rescue, I think that would, er, change, actually, the calculations

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

The RAF flights have undoubtedly been in the presence of unfolding evil in Gaza during Israel’s genocide. And committee members asked Pollard if RAF data “would be able to ascertain the amount of damage and the type of ordnance” or “the amount of munitions and the type of munitions” that Israel may have used. Pollard simply insisted again that “the flights are solely there for hostage rescue… as a result, we don’t look… beyond those activities”.

It may indeed be the case that employers and employees have chosen to cover their eyes, ears, and mouths. But there is overwhelming global consensus that Israel has been committing genocide. And today, a UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry has concluded that:

the State of Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza

And with that fact comes responsibility. As Commissioner Chris Sidoti stressed following the report:

Every country in the world was put on notice by the International Court of Justice that there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza… Every country in the world became obliged under the law… not to ‘speak fine words’, to take action to prevent genocide. There can be no doubt whatsoever that that obligation was activated on the 24th of January 2024, if not before.

UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese had already called for Britain and other Western states to face consequences for their complicity in Israeli crimes, insisting previously that:

the UK has violated its obligations under international law… [by] aiding and assisting Israel in the commission of… a series of international wrongdoing

“Looking the other way” when evil occurs is never an acceptable excuse, especially when you’re repeatedly flying over the crime scene to support the evildoer.

Featured image via the Canary

By Ed Sykes

This post was originally published on Canary.