There’s Aviators putting in some serious shifts in the last couple of days, and days to come. Here’s hoping they all stay safe!
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The UK Government’s directive to use the RAF to assist the Israelis to defend their airspace means the UK is now a de facto ally of Israel: this is the first time since the Suez Crisis. Luckily the USA are on our side this time, eh?
Whilst it is good that our air force are stopping bad people doing bad things i.e. indiscriminate aerial bombing of combatants and non-combatants alike, we are also clearing up Israel’s mess by getting involved, and will receive no gratitude from Israel for our actions earlier today. Rather, we’ll have more demonstrations from Hamas’ UK-based useful idiots, and increased ‘justification’ for anti-Semitism/radical Islamist terrorism in our country.
Netanyahu and his government are acting like over-indulged children once again, fouling their nappies and getting the grown-ups to change them at three in the morning, then doing it again at five o’clock, all whilst wearing not cute smiles on their faces, but impatient and demanding expressions towards their useless idiot parents.
Thanks for all of that, Tory Boy. 
The rapprochement due to the Abraham Accords has been very significant, The Saudi’s and Israeli’s talking together, then there is Israeli’s taking holidays in Dubai. At one time the Israeli dial code was not in any hotel phone directory.
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The cooperation between the various Arab states and Israel long predates the Abraham Accords, and it’s all about Iran, nukes, and their ‘forward engagement’ policy.
Even when the Israelis destroyed the Iraqi nuclear weapons programme at Osiriak in the 1980’s, the Jordanians, Saudis, Syrians and Kuwaitis all had their radars switched off for essential maintenance…
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Ironic that fall out hit amazon this week…
Well, surprised that they bounced via Iraq:
https://x.com/militarybanter/status/1779600004887232538?s=46&t=REPCGMD46CTk6mVsoT-xRA
Safe to say I think Ikea’s version of instant sunshine is a little bit different than the rest of us…
Well, the Israeli response so far appears to be quite tiny.
Feels a bit like a small child having a tantrum and showing they can do what they want to do, whilst also desperately trying not to get in trouble with mummy and daddy.
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If the Israelis sent one missile, and it got through, that would be quite the message.
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That seems to be what has happened. It’s a good warning really without escalating too much. We can hit you at any time, any where, so stop with this stupidness.
The question now is how will Iran act. Will they see this as a ‘rightful defence’, or will they see this as a new, unrelated attack, and then escalate further?
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We should take into account that Iran considers Israel to have struck their sovereign territory first by attacking their (annex to their) embassy in Damascus. If they don’t respond then, given the above, what message does that send?
From that viewpoint, it’s more difficult to view even such a small attack as a legitimate response to the prior mass drone attack.
However, there’s also not much Iran can no do directly - Israel & allies have proven that the Israeli defence structures are stronger than the Iranian attacking capability against Israeli territory.
I think there will be further attacks by Iran, but using non-traditional methods such as cyber attacks and exerting further control over civilian maritime traffic, both near Iran and also Yemen through their influence of the Houthis.
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Moving here as a bit more relevant.
There’s always been a bit of a “boycott Israel” faction for Eurovision. this year there is greater profile due to everything else.
I think the main difference between the Russia/ukraine situation & Israel/Gaza
- Russia invaded unprovoked an established sovereign state.
- Both Russia & Ukraine are members of the EBU
- Israel/Gaza situation was initiated by Hamas attacking Israel (including at music peace conference ironically)
- Gaza/Palastine is not an independent sovereign state
-Palestine is not a separate member of EBU
So it makes if a little tricker for the EBU to take action against a participating country without taking a political stance.
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International arrest warrants issued for Israeli PM and head of Hamas.
Good.
All nation states need to enforce arrests when opportunity presents itself, or the whole system crumbles.
Commit war crimes, win bad prizes. Pointing to someone else committing war crimes doesn’t get you off the hook.
If I understand correctly, the ICC Prosecutor has applied to the court for the arrest warrants and this now has to be scrutinised by a panel of judges. They will be the ones who decide on if the warrants are issued or not. It seems a way off a final decision yet. Politics will no doubt come in very soon. Biden is not happy.
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Biden really lost some respect from me. As time goes on he’s becoming more senile and stubbornly immoveable on his Israel stance. Read the room, Joe…
Biden knows he’ll still get the votes from the left as there’s no other option (if anyone in America is really on the left). But the right are generally rabidly pro-Israel so if he wants to attract voters from Trump he needs to support Israel.
Then the USA have historically been very cautious about the International Criminal Court, refusing to ratify the Treaty of Rome. In part this is because they have concerns about their own leaders being indicated for war crimes.
“Cautious” is certainly one way to describe The Hague Invasion Act (informal name)
So true and so sad.
This narrative about the injustice of comparing a democratic state with a bunch of terrorists is so old.
Democratic states can also commit war crimes or otherwise make poor decisions that aren’t in the interest of the average Joe or planet. This isn’t the purview of terrorists.
The fact our government and some allies are undermining the ICC process is shameful and further contributes to undermining our security.
Once you’ve undermined process and the checks and balances in place, you lose the ability to be objective. Everything descends into anarchy, just as the advent of “alternative facts” has had such a negative impact on political discourse.
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Separate to the ICC point (I’m in agreement that the independence of the court is absolutely essential and the undermining must stop), I note the ample reports that a few countries intend to recognise Palestine as a state over the next week or so.
Am I the only person a little disappointed by this?
Ultimately, the conflict this time round began with a huge terror attack. I feel as though recognising Palestinian statehood sends the message that terrorism is effective. Quite surprised to see this from Spain in particular, given their relatively recent fight against ETA.
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