If you thought RAF jets were owned by the RAF, think again. The RAF squadron targeted for a repaint by Palestine Action due to its involvement in supplying Israel’s genocide, does not in fact belong to the RAF at all. It belongs ultimately to Polygon Global Partners LLP, a Hedge Fund. Through a chain of […]
The RAF has two Shadow R1 planes that conduct daily sorties near Gaza, but not in its airspace. These are surveillance planes and the British government claims they are solely tasked with gathering intelligence around Hamas-held hostages. They are flown from RAF Akrotiri, a base in Cyprus.
There are questions as to what sort of intelligence is being shared with Israel, and the use to which that intelligence is being put. There is also the suspicion that the RAF flights are being used to circumvent bilateral ceasefire provisions around reducing Israeli surveillance flights during hostage release periods, and that the intelligence is being used to identify targets for assassination and spree shootings. Some see this intelligence sharing as collusion with genocide or war crimes. There were two British hostages, one being killed in an Israeli operation and the other being released. The British presence is therefore, some feel, unwarranted.
The organisation very much picked the wrong target and methodology in my opinion. Nothing at Brize Norton is being used in connection with Gaza, and not only did they cause significant damage to military assets, they humiliated the defence establishment by publicly showing how easy it was to gain access to those planes. The government has no choice really but to throw the book at them, lest any group or foreign power with a score to settle decide they want to copy them. There is also the background of increased military threat from Russia and China, and the pressure from the US that NATO members pull their weight. They kind of overachieved and underachieved at the same time.
Thanks for giving an extensive answer, wish I could give you more than one upvote in return. I feel there is so much misinformation it gets harder to trust media. But also activist aren’t always trustworthy, this seeming to prove that once more.
The RAF has two Shadow R1 planes that conduct daily sorties near Gaza, but not in its airspace. These are surveillance planes and the British government claims they are solely tasked with gathering intelligence around Hamas-held hostages. They are flown from RAF Akrotiri, a base in Cyprus.
There are questions as to what sort of intelligence is being shared with Israel, and the use to which that intelligence is being put. There is also the suspicion that the RAF flights are being used to circumvent bilateral ceasefire provisions around reducing Israeli surveillance flights during hostage release periods, and that the intelligence is being used to identify targets for assassination and spree shootings. Some see this intelligence sharing as collusion with genocide or war crimes. There were two British hostages, one being killed in an Israeli operation and the other being released. The British presence is therefore, some feel, unwarranted.
The organisation very much picked the wrong target and methodology in my opinion. Nothing at Brize Norton is being used in connection with Gaza, and not only did they cause significant damage to military assets, they humiliated the defence establishment by publicly showing how easy it was to gain access to those planes. The government has no choice really but to throw the book at them, lest any group or foreign power with a score to settle decide they want to copy them. There is also the background of increased military threat from Russia and China, and the pressure from the US that NATO members pull their weight. They kind of overachieved and underachieved at the same time.
Thanks for giving an extensive answer, wish I could give you more than one upvote in return. I feel there is so much misinformation it gets harder to trust media. But also activist aren’t always trustworthy, this seeming to prove that once more.