Morning Star, October 3, 2024
THE Labour government has ordered 100 spy flights over Gaza to aid Israeli intelligence, an investigation by Declassified UK revealed today.
The intelligence-gathering flights began in December under the previous government.
Eleven flights took place in Labourβs first week in power, and during Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmerβs first full month in office in August, the Royal Air Force (RAF) flew 42 flights over Gaza.
Declassified UK found that the flights were departing from Britainβs air base in Cyprus.
The flights may have gathered up to 500 hours of footage of Gaza, Declassified UK said, though it is unclear exactly where the British intelligence is going and what it comprises.
Earlier this month, Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin, a former British army officer who served in Afghanistan, asked the military whether βUK intelligence is passed to Israel for the purposes of military targeting.β
Labourβs armed forces minister Luke Pollard responded by saying the surveillance flights were βsolely tasked to support hostage rescue.β
Britainβs intelligence support to Israel is not limited to aerial missions.
An Israeli official disclosed to the New York Times that a secret British reconnaissance team was deployed to Israel early on in its attack on Gaza.
The British team gives βadded valueβ to its intelligence operations, he said, adding that Britain is providing intelligence that βIsrael cannot collect on its own.β
There is no evidence the new Labour government has brought this spy team home from Israel.
ββA Ministry of Defence spokesperson told Declassified that Britain is not a participant in the war in Gaza, adding: βOur mandate is narrowly defined to focus on securing the release of the hostages only, including British nationals, with the RAF routinely conducting unarmed flights since December 2023 for this sole purpose.β
Peace and Justice Post 
Shame of US Justice
January 12, 2011By Yvonne Ridley, Foreign Policy Journal, Jan 10, 2011
Americaβs international standing as a fair and just country does not match its superpower status as the worldβs greatest democracy.
When it comes to basic human rights it is there in the gutter alongside some of the worldβs most toxic, tinpot dictatorships and authoritarian regimes.
So thereβs little surprise that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange fears being extradited to The States where some politicians and Pentagon officials have already called for his execution andΒ Attorney General Eric Holder admits his government may invoke the US Espionage Act.
But itβs not just the persecution and the prosecution Assange should fear, either β the wheels of justice can be agonizingly slow in a process which could take years. And in the case of the Guantanamo detainees there is no end in sight β the majority of them have not been charged but simply forgotten.
Having stepped inside US prisons β both military and civilian β I can tell you there is nothing civilized about the penal institutions in the United States.
Continues >>
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Tags:Bradley Manning, Human rights, Julian Assange, prisoners, U.K., United States, Wikileaks, Yvonne Ridley
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