Starmer's government constantly sells us red herrings to throw us off the scent of the UK's complicity in Israel's genocide 

Four months after pro-Palestine activists targeted the Royal Air Force base, the Ministry of Defence claims it still doesn’t know the cost of repairs.

Images and videos are free to use, with credit to Palestine Action Palestine Action have damaged two military planes at RAF Brize Norton, where flights leave daily for RAF Akrotiri […]

<article data-history-node-id="425226" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/real-crimes-are-taking-place-gaza-not-glastonbury-or-brize-norton" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/real-crimes-are-taking-place-gaza-not-glastonbury-or-brize-norton" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Opinion: The real crimes are taking place in Gaza, not at Glastonbury or Brize Norton</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>What Israel, Washington, the UK and others have been forced to do to sustain the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/explainers/meaning-definition-what-genocide-israel-gaza" target="_blank">genocide</a>&nbsp;is to create theatre - in a series of deflection dramas - to distract from the central crime.</p> <p>Hollywood’s master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, the film director who specialised in what&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqkM6JYHito" target="_blank">he termed</a>&nbsp;“MacGuffins” - narrative dead-ends to throw viewers off the scent - might have appreciated the skill with which this has been done.&nbsp;</p> <p>The aim has been to get the western media to focus on, and therefore western audiences to think about, not the main drama - either the genocide itself, or the inherently violent, apartheid nature of the Israeli state carrying it out - but to invest instead in separate plot twists and turns. Ones, of course, that don’t make western capitals look so obviously complicit and depraved...</p> <p style="margin-bottom:11px">The frenzied production of MacGuffins is necessary to stop western publics from thinking about the only issue that really matters: Israel is slaughtering Palestinians because it is a settler-colonial state that wants to rid itself of the “wrong” ethnic group.&nbsp;</p> <p>What European settler-colonial states have done throughout modern history - from the US, to Australia and South Africa - is replace the native population through strategies of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and extermination. Israel is simply following in that tradition....</p> <p>As Israel’s actions in Gaza become ever more indefensible - not least, the starvation of the population by blocking aid - the deflection dramas have needed to grow more lavish.</p> <p>The recent attacks by Israel and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us" target="_blank">US</a>&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/iran" target="_blank">Iran</a>, and before them, Israel’s destruction of southern&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/lebanon" target="_blank">Lebanon</a>, are the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israels-attack-iran-violent-new-world-being-born-going-horrify-you" target="_blank">most egregious</a>&nbsp;of these set-pieces.&nbsp;</p> <p>You can read more <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/real-crimes-are-taking-place-gaza-not-glastonbury-or-brize-norton?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=Social_Traffic&amp;utm_content=ap_rknwuhmdlj">here</a>.</p> </div> </div> </article>

<article data-history-node-id="425193" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/opinion-real-crimes-are-taking-place-gaza-not-glastonbury-or-brize" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/opinion-real-crimes-are-taking-place-gaza-not-glastonbury-or-brize" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Opinion: The real crimes are taking place in Gaza, not at Glastonbury or Brize Norton</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>The British government is being rocked by a growing public backlash to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israel</a>’s 21-month&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/topics/israel-war-gaza" target="_blank">slaughter in Gaza</a>&nbsp;and the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/uk" target="_blank">UK</a>’s active collusion in it.</p> <p>That fallout came to a head over the weekend, when punk group&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/death-death-idf-not-antisemitic-reserve-your-outrage-israeli-crimes-gaza" target="_blank">Bob Vylan</a>&nbsp;led Glastonbury’s crowds in chanting: “Death, death to the IDF,” referencing the Israeli army - a performance aired live on the BBC, which later expressed regret for not cutting the feed. The Irish band Kneecap then focused audience rage towards British Prime Minister Keir Starmer,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/jun/30/bbc-should-have-pulled-live-stream-bob-vylan-glastonbury-anti-idf-chants" target="_blank">leading the crowd</a>&nbsp;in a chant cursing his name.</p> <p>Other musicians also used their sets to vent their indignation at British complicity in what the International Court of Justice ruled in early 2024 to be a “plausible” genocide.</p> <p>Their grievances are well-founded.&nbsp;</p> <p>The UK government is still supplying parts for the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/30/high-court-allows-uk-to-keep-exporting-f-35-jet-parts-to-israel" target="_blank">F-35 fighter jets</a>&nbsp;dropping bombs on Gaza’s people. It has massively increased UK&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/major-jump-approved-uk-arms-exports-israel-weeks-after-gaza-ban" target="_blank">arms exports</a>&nbsp;to Israel, even while stating that it cut them, while shipping US and German&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/new-report-lays-out-full-extent-uk-israel-military-partnership-gaza" target="_blank">weapons</a>&nbsp;through the Royal Air Force base Akrotiri on Cyprus. It is operating&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/starmer-visits-gaza-spy-planes-air-base" target="_blank">spy missions</a>&nbsp;over Gaza on Israel’s behalf.&nbsp;</p> <h3>Read more: <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/real-crimes-are-taking-place-gaza-not-glastonbury-or-brize-norton">The real crimes are taking place in Gaza, not at Glastonbury or Brize Norton</a>&nbsp;Opinion by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/users/jonathan-cook" title="View user profile.">Jonathan Cook</a></h3> <figure role="group" class="media-block"> <div class="group-inner"> <div alt="A Palestinian girl stands near the rubble of a residential house in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on 1 July 2025, after overnight Israeli strikes (Eyad Baba/AFP)" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="ede92771-db9c-433f-bdbe-9fa51ab96270" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"> <img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/images-story/palestine-gaza-rubble-israel-strikes-july-2025-eyad-baba-afp.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="A Palestinian girl stands near the rubble of a residential house in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on 1 July 2025, after overnight Israeli strikes (Eyad Baba/AFP)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high"> </div> <figcaption>A Palestinian girl stands near the rubble of a residential house in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on 1 July 2025, after overnight Israeli strikes (Eyad Baba/AFP)</figcaption> </div> </figure> <p><span style="background: url(&quot;https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png&quot;) rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"><img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> </div> </div> </article>

The suspects are accused of causing millions of pounds worth of damage at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

Royal Air Force | Airbus | A400M | ZM400 | UK - England, Brize Norton (BZZ - EGVN) | Photo taken by Marek Gembka

Four months after pro-Palestine activists targeted the Royal Air Force base, the Ministry of Defence claims it still doesn’t know the cost of repairs.

The Defence Secretary John Healey says new technology and surveillance has been installed at RAF Brize Norton.